She Chose You
by Flying-with-lions
Summary: What would've happened if Allura died during a mission? Who would she choose to be a diplomatic leader for the coalition? Would that person accept the fact or would they fight the reality of the situation?
1. Prolouge

It had started after Allura's death when a mission had gone south. No more then five minutes after they had gotten back Coran was telling her Allura had wanted her to take her place. Pidge was at a lost for words. She had stood there, mouth agape her vision going in and out of focus.

The floor seemed to sway beneath her feet as Coran continued to explain. Her legs gave out and she stumbled trying to catch herself. Shiro had caught her and led her over to the couch helping her to sit down.

Pidge lowered her head her hands running through her hair. This was all too much. Being a Paladin of Voltron was already stressful enough. She didn't need dresses and meetings added to the list.

Coran continues to blabber on talking on and on about how she would need to work on proper etiquette when talking to other royalty and attending dinner parties. That's when she snapped.

"CORAN!!!" She snapped cutting him off, "shut up!" He froze mid-explanation on how he was going to help her learn about diplomacy.

The room stilled as they waited for her to continue. Their eyes were on her as she rose to her feet. Shiro offered his hand for support but she denied it as she walked towards Coran.

She cleared her throat, "I'm not going to be a diplomat Coran. No matter what Allura said I don't want anything to do with it," Pidge held her hands up as Coran opened his mouth to argue. She closed her eyes for a split second while she turned towards the door. "Please respect my decision," she says quietly before leaving the room.

Walking down the corridor to her room she felt so empty inside as if her happiness only a few hours before had suddenly never existed.

She collapsed on her bed as soon as she was free of her armor only wearing the body suit that went under the Paladins armor. She curled up on the bed her head angled to look at her hands laying on the bed. She moved them ever so slightly watching as her hand responded to the command her brain gave.

She sighed and rolled to lay on her back a hand resting on her stomach and one under her head. Allura made the wrong choice. Pidge knew she could never be a worthy diplomat and she accepted it with grace. She already ha something she was amazing at why did she need to do this as well?

Pidge sat up her legs dangling over the edge of the bed. She ran her hands through her hair as she sighed.

She actually pictured herself in a dress with heels. She pictured herself walking through the front door only to trip and fall flat on her face. She pictured herself saying the wrong thing and making the war even worse. She pictured as planets started refusing to join the coalition because of her.

"There's no way in the universe I'm stepping into that role," she said to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AN: Thank you so much for everyone who reads this! This is my first official Shidge fanfic so I'm pretty excited.


	2. You could make a differance

The kitchen was silent when she entered the next morning. The monitor at the edge of the door sensed her movement and clicked the lights on. Pidge filled a bowl with food good and slid into a seat at the dining room table.

What was Allura thinking? What could she see that Pidge couldn't? Surely whatever she saw must've been mistaken for something else.

Pidge sighed setting the spoon down. She closed her eyes for a moment biting the inside of her cheek.

———————————————————

"Allura look out!" Lance screamed over the sound of blasts and gunshots.

The princess didn't respond as she was caught in her battle between a Galra sentry and herself. She was so close to taking it down. Summoning her Bayard she let out a battle cry destroying the sentry once and for all.

Lance cried out again for her to lookout. As she turned a sentry that had been sneaking up on her lunged. Driving his sword through her chest. Allura stood there shocked her eyes fixated on the blade.

One by one everyone took notice the battle slowly coming to a stop. The sounds of blasts cut off to be replaced by the clattering sound of Allura's Bayard hitting the ground.

The Galra who had landed the blow let out a deranged laugh only to be silenced by Keith's sword with a sickening slice through the Galra's neck.

Allura dropped to her knees her eyes still wide with shock. Lance was the first one to run up to her and grab hold of her before she fell completely.

She leaned into him heavily her eyes fluttering. By this time her whole front was soaked with blood.

"Allura stays with me," Lance said his voice shaking. He brought up his hand and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face tucking it behind her ear.

"Lance...I..." she's interrupted by a coughing fit and blood starts dripping from her mouth running over her beautiful lips staining them red.

"Shh," Lance grips her hand, his other arm supporting her back, "save your strength."

The other Paladins had gathered around keeping a wary eye on the few Galra who had not been killed or injured.

"I'm not going to make it Lance," Allura said her voice just barely above a whisper.

Lance started shaking his head, "No, you're going to make it. You'll be alright," tears trickled down his face, "will get you out of here and we can get you into a pod," Lance's voice cracked.

She gave him a weak smile placing a bloody hand on his cheek. He leaned into it and closed his eyes. He opened them again when her hand fell away.

Her eyes were closed and she leaned against him her head resting on his shoulder.

Pidge could barely stand to be watching anymore and she turned to the first Galra she saw and lunged...

———————————-

"Pidge?"

She jumped as her name was called. Looking up to the source she found it was Shiro. He sat down next to her, his eyes only leaving her for a moment before immediately returning to her. His eyes were filled with concern and searched her eyes for answers.

"Pidge, I know that you don't even want to consider it..."

So that was his plan. Try and convince her to become a diplomat for the sake of the universe, but what about her? What about what she wanted? She rested her head on her hand and fiddled with the spoon with the other.

"...but maybe you could do it for the universe. You'd be helping so many lives and planets."

"That's funny," she says glaring at him, "I knew you were going to say that," she sighed and leaned back in her chair, "and no I don't care what Allura said. I'm a Paladin and that's all, I'm not a diplomat, never was never will be."

"You don't know until you try," Shiro responds giving her a small smile. Pidge rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

On the outside, she looked and acted like she didn't care, but on the inside, about fifteen different alarms were going off. She felt her face grow slightly warm and she kept her eyes focused on her food in front of her.

"Pidge, you need to think about what you're saying no to. If you do this you could make a huge difference in the outcome of the war."

She looked back at him her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes glassed over, any warmth she had felt had completely vanished, "Am I not already making a difference?"

"Well...yes..." Shiro seemed to hesitate, avoiding her gaze.

"But not as much as of a difference as you would like," Pidge said speaking for him. She bit her lip and nodded, tears were building in her eyes and she was doing her best to keep her composure, "Alright now that's out of the way it's clear what I must choose," she says her voice wavering ever so slightly as she stood up from the table.

"Wait, Kaite...Don't...I didn't mean-" Shiro was struggling on finding the right words to fix the mess he had gotten himself into.

"Don't even try Shiro. You've made your thoughts very clear, thank you for that," Pidge gave him a small curtsey, before turning and stalking off towards the door. Pausing as the door slid open she turned to face him, "Don't call me Katie."


	3. Do I?

Pidge marched down the corridor. Her arms were stiff at her side and her hands were balled into fists. She marched straight towards the bridge.

She entered the bridge causing Coran to jump. Pidge let out an exaggerated sigh as she slumped into her chair.

Coran glanced over at her before returning his gaze back to the holographic screen before him. "Something wrong number five?"

Pidge shook her head sitting upright, "No, just a little frustrated with someone at the moment,"

"Sounds like there is something wrong."

"Just forget it, Coran," she replies. She stands up and walks over next to him, "I came here to talk to about the whole diplomatic thing..."

"Oh changed your mind?" He says turning to face her placing his hands on his hips.

"Yes I have but, could we take things slow. This is an entirely new concept and I have no doubt that I could catch on pretty fast," she says quickly before Coran had a chance to jump in and go on a whole speel about all he was going to go over with her.

"Of course, of course." He says waving his hands, "I'll do my best,"

Pidge nodded, "Alright so we'll start tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

Pidge exited the room with a plan to return straight to her room. With no desire to see anyone. The door slid shut behind her. Almost immediately she slammed into someone.

She looked up adjusting her glasses on her face. She narrowed her eyes and shoved past the figure that she ran into.

"Pardon me," she growled.

"Pidge," Shiro says grabbing her arm, "can we talk?"

"No-" she jerks her arm away- "we can't. There's nothing to talk about." She turned to leave again.

"Pidge, please. I didn't mean it like that you know me!"

"Do I?" She mumbled.

"What?"

She whirled around her eyes filled with hatred, "Do I, Shiro? Do I know you?"

He looked at her his eyes wide his mouth open searching for the right words to say.

"One second your encouraging everyone that their a valuable part of the team and then the next your coming to me saying I'm not doing enough just being a Paladin!"

Pidge's face was warm and hot tears streamed down her face. She pressed her palms onto her eyes willing herself to stop crying her glasses were resting on top of her head.

When she pulled them away her face was red and puffy. Shiro couldn't meet her gaze she could see that he obviously felt sorry for what she said but she was too caught up in the moment to care. She stalked away from him crossing her arms over her body and hugging herself.

XxX

Pidge had found an empty hallway. She leaned back against the wall sliding down into a sitting position. She rested her head on her knees.

"Pidge? You okay?" Lance's voice sounded from in front of her and she looked up. Her face was wet with new tears. She wiped them away with her sleeve sniffing.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Lance settles down next to her, "something's wrong now are you going to tell me or am I going to go find the source of the problem myself?" He says in an attempt to cheer her up.

She sniffs and chuckles a little, "no I'll tell you."

Lance opened his arms to her and she willing crawled into them resting her head against his chest. He circled his arms around her. "Now tell Lance what's going on."


	4. I'm Falling

Pidge was right. She had caught in pretty quickly. In five days she had learned the basics of a diplomatic meeting that should get her through her first one.

What meeting? you may ask. Oh the one that Coran mentioned about three days before it was supposed to happen.

As soon as Coran had told her Pidge laughed. "You're joking right?"

Coran have her a confused look shaking his head slightly, "I don't joke."

Pidge looked at him lowering the tablet in her hands. "You're serious?"

Coran nodded. He pulled up a calender and pointed to the date three days from now.

Pidge out her head on the table, "Great," she groaned out.

XxX Three days Later XxX

It was several hours before the ceremony and the four paladins minus Pidge were all shining their armour. Coran was standing in the center of the group with a small tablet in hand.

"Now you guys will be able to enter the building with Pidge as her "guards" per say, but you won't be able to enter the room where the meeting is being held. "

Keith and Shiro shared a look before glancing at Coran.

"It's a diplomatic meeting it's supposed to be peaceful right? So we shouldn't have anything to worry about," Hunk said pausing from wiping down his helmet .

Keith coughed and moved onto his helmet not responding. Lance tilted his head side to side. Shiro opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Coran.

"Not always no. I remember when King Alfor was attending a meeting," he stroked his mustache, "they had just settled down for the meal portion when several masked aliens burst into the room. They demanded that the meeting not continue and that everyone leave immediately."

"Did they survive?" Hunk asked.

"Not everyone. The Aliens fired a few warning shots and didn't see where they were headed hitting a few important leaders," Coran responded sadly.

" Oh... " Hunk glanced at his helmet, "I think someone should talk to Pidge make sure she knows to be watching. Not that she would need the reminder she knows how to look out for herself I'm just saying-"

"We get what your saying Hunk," Shiro said placing a hand on his shoulder, " I can talk to her. "

Lance snickered hiding his mouth behind his hand choking on air when he caught everyone looking at him. Shiro gave him a pointed look.

"What's so funny?" Keith asked him.

" Nothing. It's just the fact that Pidge hasn't talked to Shiro in days so what makes him think that she would talk to him now? "

"I've given her time to cool off. Now maybe she'll listen to me," Shiro responded his voice had a slight edge to it. Taking a deep breath he turned to go, "I'm gong to go talk to her now."

"Maybe I should go with you I mean she did open up to me after all," Lance said standing up and crossing his arms in one smooth motion.

Shiro froze at the door. He thought about turning around he really did but being the person that he was he continued through the door allowing to slide close behind him before making his way to Pidge's room.

XxX

Pidge nearly jumped when a knock sounded at her door. Picking up her tablet from the floor she set it on her bed before opening the door.

"Goodbye," she said closing the door almost immediately when she saw who it was.

However Shiro wasn't having it. He stuck his hand in the doorway preventing her from closing it. He watched for a moment in amusement as she attempted to remove his hand from the doorway.

"You seriously can't still be mad at me. Do you know how long it's been?"

"Yes Shiro-" she groaned as she tried to pry his fingers off from around the door- "I do know how long it's been." She gave up from trying to remove his hand and stood in the center of her doorway arms crossed, " so what if I'm still angry"

"It's not healthy for you mentally. Can't you at least talk to me?" Shiro asked.

Pidge looked away she suddenly found the wall across her room suddenly very interesting.

"Pidge?"

Pidge turned her eyes back to Shiro. She sighed then nodded. "Alright,"

Shiro was nearly overwhelmed with relief. "I know you probably heard this a million times from me but I'm so sorry I didn't mean what I said to come across like how it did. I just didn't want you to pass up an opportunity to make even more of a difference."

Pidge nodded trying to suppress a smile. She didn't know when Shiro all of a sudden became cute when he was being sincere. When his grey eyes met her cider eyes she felt her whole body go numb.

Wait. What was she doing wasn't she supposed to be mad at him. What was she mad at him for?

Shiro waved at her and she automatically waved back. Only when he walked away did she wake up from her trance. She lo ones down at her hand then back up at Shiro's receding figure. Her face went red and she disappeared back into her room slamming the door behind her.

She pressed her back up against the door her hand over her mouth. "Oh my gosh. I think I'm falling for Shiro. "


	5. Olkari Pt 1

The meeting was an hour away and the castle of lions had just landed in the lush grass of Olkari. Since it is the base operations for the coalition it would only make sense for the meeting to take place.

According to Coran a number of leaders agreed to meet on Olkari to discuss the best way to defeat the Galra. There had only been a few that had declined the meeting invite, but that didn't effect how many were coming.

Pidge was surprised she was expecting as many to show up. She fiddled with her dress, running the fabric through her fingers.

The dress was an off the shoulders style dress. The forest green dress was just above her ankles. There was silver accents decorating the tops of the sleeves and all along the top of the dress. She wore a matte silver choker. Her shoes were simple flats also silver. In her hair was a simple sliver barrette.

Pidge ran her fingers over the choker as she looked herself over in the mirror. Coran had the outfit made specially for her. It fit her perfectly not too tight and not to loose. It complemented her figure, even though she thought she didn't have one.

You can do this Pidge. It's just like your giving a presentation in class, just imagine them to be your peers. She glanced down at her dress. Well a really fancy classroom.

Pidge took a deep breath and opened the door. Stepping out she took the few steps to the entrance where the others were waiting for her. She had told them that they didn't need to go, that she could handle this on her own but they had insisted they go and she was secretly glad.

The door slid open in front of her and she winced at the sunlight that flooded her eyes. Squinting she was able to make out the four paladins and Coran.

Lance had his hand over his mouth and he was looking at the ground a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. Keith was smirking at him clearly amused at him being flustered. Hunk had his hands in fists over his mouth and he was squealing. Coran was looking very pleased with his choice of dress. And Shiro was gazing at her his eyes never leaving hers. His mouth was slightly open from when he stopped mid sentence saying something to Hunk.

She felt her face flush and she quickly looked at her feet. She approached them still not quite meeting their eyes.

"Pidge, you're absolutely adorable," Hunk said squealing.

"Not bad Coran," Keith replied.

"Why is she so cute?" Lance mumbled into his hand. Everyone gave him amused looks. Well everyone except for Shiro who was still looking at Pidge.

"Katie you look absolutely stunning," he finally said.

Pidge automatically straightened her posture as he said her real name. Chills were sent through her body causing her to blush again.

Shiro noticed her straighten up and his eyes widened, "I'm sorry you told me not to call you Katie-"

"It's okay Shiro," she replied softly.

Shiro smiled at her and she felt her stomach drop. Her mind went all fuzzy and she hardly registered that they had started moving until they almost disappeared from view.

**_An: Let me know what you think of this fanfic so far!!_**


	6. Olkari Pt 2

The Paladins plus Coran entered the headquarters already a buzz with diplomatic leaders and assistants. There was a noticeable lack of security in the building which led Hunk to nudge Lance and point it out as if he was saying. _Told you._

Pidge watched as people leaned close to their companions and chatter excitedly while pointing to an object or screen. She looked to find Shiro conversing with a native of Olkari. She didn't recognize him, from what she could tell was that he was only there for the meeting.

She smiled as she approached trying to remember the first thing about greeting someone. Both Shiro and the Olkari turned to face her almost immediately the Olkari took her hand and shook it.

"Paladin Pidge, so nice of you to join us," he said casually. Pidge nodded withdrawing her hand once he released it. The Olkari seemed to notice her lack of response and turned back to Shiro. She bit her lip as she mentally slapped herself. _A voiced response would've probably been better,_ she thought.

She was only thirty feet into the door and she was already screwing things up. _How did Allura manage to do this?_ As casually as she could she glanced around hoping to find another conversation to join since this one was going nowhere for her.

Pidge turned when a hand was placed on her back. She found another Olkari around her height looking back at her with wide eyes. "Paladin Pidge?"

She started to nod only to stop herself and clear her throat. "Yes, that's me."

The Olkari looked overjoyed to see her clasping her hands together, "Oh boy! Okay!" she took deep breaths calming her excitement. Lowering her head she said in a more solemn tone, "I'm sorry that was not very proper of me-" She glanced up, holding a hand out behind her- "I'm here to escort you to the meeting."

Pidge nodded, "Alright let me just grab my friends," She turned to leave only for the Olkari to grab her arm holding her back.

"They can not enter the room, only the diplomatic leaders may. If they wish to wait here they may otherwise we will ask that they leave."

"Oh...Here's fine," she glanced back at her friends as she left the room. _Guess they do have specific guidelines in place for the leader's safety and security._

XxX

It didn't take long for them to reach the large metallic doors they stood in front of now. The doors reached just above the normal height for a door. Surrounding the door were others just like it. Each one had a keycard lock which the Olkari seemed to have. As she went to slide it the door slid open revealing, yet another Olkari with a tech uniform on and a bag gripped in his hand. If he was surprised to see them he hid it well. He tipped his hat to them both and went on his way. Pidge followed him with her eyes down the hallway and around the corner an uneasy feeling gnawing at her stomach.

"The meeting will begin shortly," The Olkari said stepping to the side allowing her access to the room.

"Thank you..." She trailed off not knowing the kind girl's name.

"Oksana."

"Thank you, Oksana," Pidge repeated.

XxX

Stepping into the room Pidge immediately noticed the long table situated in the middle of the room with a podium at one end. Her steps echoed as she made her way to the table her eyes following the intricate designs on the floor and wall. There was a line of pillars around the room decorated in all kinds of crystals and jewels that captured her attention almost immediately.

Placing her hands on the smooth metal of the chair she pulled it out. She winced as the chair scraped across the floor, once she had pulled it out far enough she sat down not bothering to pull it back in. Almost immediately the door slid open and a huge group of aliens entered sitting down in any chair they could find.

Pidge watched wide-eyed her hands clasped together as she watched the others get settled laughing and talking as they did.

A small ding sounded from the end of the table marking the beginning of the meeting. An Olkari host was standing at the podium in formal attire fit for the occasion. It was a simple robe with a sash hanging from his right shoulder and angling down towards his left hip. The sash itself was a vibrant red with gold stitching.

"I'm sure you all are eager to discuss the matters at hand, but first let us eat!" He let out a hearty laugh motioning for the servers to come forward.

Confused as to why they were allowing so many people into the room she tapped her neighbor on the arm getting their attention. "I thought only the diplomatic leaders were allowed in here?"

The man turned towards her. He had bright blue tribal marks on his face decorating his tan skin. He had cat-like ears that twitched every so often. "The host and his servers have special clearance."

He picked up a piece of food that could easily be mistaken for chicken although she was pretty sure that was not the case. "First time I'm guessing?"

She swallowed her bite placing the food down on her plate, "Is it that obvious?"

He shrugged, "you were the first person in the room weren't you?"

"Yeah, but how does that determine if this is my first diplomatic meeting or not? What if I'm just an extremely punctual person?"

"Well usually before the meetings we gather together allowing ourselves to be informal with each other allowing us to get to know each other before the meeting."

"Oh..."

"It helps with nerves and it also helps us realize that we are just talking to another person."

"I respect that," Pidge replied taking another bite of her mysterious chicken.

XxX

The plates had been cleared nearly an hour ago and Pidge was listening to the same issue being argued over. She leaned back in her chair acting as if she was still being attentive and listening but her mind was a million miles away.

She had to keep herself from smiling. She had no idea why she had even attempted to remove Shiro's hand from her door, there was no way that she was going to win that. Shiro had been so insistent on talking to her that it was almost fun for her to try and avoid him. Although she had been angry with him the first couple of days she kinda enjoyed the attention. Now she knew that she shouldn't find it funny that he was legitimately trying to apologize only for her to turn him away but she couldn't help it. He became so cute when he was frustrated.

The alien from earlier nudged her shoulder and she was jolted from her trance only to hear a question being asked.

"Pidge would you like to say a few things about the coalition?"

Her stomach was flipping over and over again as she stood and approached the podium. All eyes were on her as she cleared her throat before she began.

"As you all know the Princess of Altea was killed during a mission that had gone south..." Murmurs of condolences reached her ears, "...as Allura's wish I'm here before you today as the new diplomatic leader for the coalition. I'm the one that will keep you posted about improvements and new planets that have joined our cause..."

That was strange she thought she heard ticking, shaking her head she continued.

"I want to thank you all for coming to this meeting and joining our cause and fight against the Galra, the Paladins of Voltron couldn't do what they do without your support..."

Okay, now the ticking was getting more persistent, glancing down she gasped at what she saw. A time bomb was strapped to the podium set to go off in less than a minute. With no time to waste she grabbed everyone's attention.

"Everyone I need you to pay close attention, right at this moment there is a bomb strapped to the podium with thirty seconds left-" she pointed towards the door- "I need everyone to exit calmly and quietly but as quickly as possible." everyone nodded and stood from their chairs.

Once everyone was in motion she bent to get a closer look at the bomb. The time clicked closer to zero, she was running out of time. After closer examination, she discovered that there was no way for her to remove the bomb without it going off.

A ruckus at the door grabbed her attention. She glanced over to find a huge mob of aliens and creatures alike all trying to open the door.

"Hey what's going on?"

"The door! It's locked!"

"We can't get out!"

"We're going to die!"

One alien right after the other responded shouting over each other. Pidge glanced around the room looking for an alternate exit route. Surprise! Surprise! There were none.

5...

There were less than ten seconds left and she had a huge mob freaking out.

4...

There were less than ten seconds and she had no plan, she couldn't think. She was a paladin of voltron able to work under pressure, but for some reason couldn't think straight in this situation.

3...

She was going to die this was it. She stared at the group pounding at the door yelling for help. She willed herself to join them, but her body only took a few steps in that direction.

2..

she glanced back over at the bomb with the time almost out she saw everything go in slow motion. The crowd pushing and shoving getting closer to the door. She noticed how her dress swished back and forth as she turned between the two.

1..

Then all at once, everything went black.


	7. Chaos

"Thank you so much," Shiro said before turning and walking away from a small cafe. It had been almost two hours and it didn't look like the meeting was going to end soon. So the other paladins and he had made themselves comfortable on one side of the room.

"How much longer?" Lance groaned from his spot on the floor. Almost immediately after the room had cleared of ambassadors and helpers he had sprawled on the floor, throwing an arm over his head.

"They'll get done when they get done," Shiro replied taking a sip from his cup. He wasn't quite sure what the light blue liquid was, but it was really sweet.

Suddenly there was a crash and the whole building shuddered from it. The paladins looked at each other with worried expressions.

Movement from the hallway Pidge had disappeared down earlier caught their attention. The Olkari had an empty tray in hand as they sprinted across the room eyes wide. Without a second thought, the paladins jumped up and raced towards the hall.

As they came closer Shiro was able to hear screaming and what sounded like rain. Just hearing the noise caused his chest to tighten and his stomach to drop. He looked back at the others who had the same concealed panic on their faces.

A ringing sound filled Pidge's ears as she struggled to sit up. The explosion had knocked her forward, causing her to land with her facing the ground. The room around her was in complete chaos with people running around screaming, Those who couldn't be were either trapped under rubble crying or were as still as the rubble that covered them.

Groaning she brought herself to her feet. She was a little unsteady as she took a few steps forward holding her hands out for support. A layer of dirt rained down from above. She looked up blinking the dirt out of her eyes.

She found a gaping hole in the ceiling drawing in the blazing sun. How did the room become so destroyed if there was only the one bomb?" she asked herself, And how am I not dead? She thought as she passed a fellow diplomat Who had been crushed under the rubble. She felt herself freeze at the sight. The mangled body covered in their blood caused her stomach to turn and she had to force herself to look away.

She made her way to the door climbing over rumble when necessary. Her dress had been ripped diagonally across. It started on her left side about mid-thigh and ending mid-calf on her right.

Sliding down a large piece of the ceiling she noticed that she was missing her shoes. She hadn't notice until this moment, but there was nothing she could do about it now. Once she reached the bottom she steadied herself.

Pidge made her way around a large piece of the ceiling her eyes focused on the door just beyond the rubble. That door was her exit if she could get to it she could find the others and get help for those who survived the attack.

Screams more intense then the ones she had grown accustomed to caused her to turn to look behind her. Several figures were fleeing through the hole in the side of the building. Most of them were running from one specific side of the building.

A blast that sent more of the building crumbling to the ground froze her to the spot. Forcing herself into movement only by the rush of adrenaline that filled her veins, Pidge wedged herself in between to large slabs of rubble pressing herself as far back as she could get.

Several Galra sentries ran past blasters poised to shoot anything on sight. They veered away from the door continuing along the perimeter of the large room.Pidge sank into the narrow space between the two slabs in relief, her body visibly losing the tension that had built up in her muscles. There was the sound of a ship taking off in the distance, as she closed her eyes her body exhausted and weak.

She hardly registered the sound of the door opening and then closing. Only when she heard the sound of familiar voices did she force her eyes open.

Pidge watched from her hiding spot as Keith followed by Lance entered the room. A few moments later Hunk entered followed by Shiro. Summoning the last of her strength she made it to her feet, limping out into the open.

"Shiro," she heard her voice say hoarsely. Shiro turned around catching sight of her almost immediately. She watched his face fill with relief as he turned to the others to get their attention. Coming to her side she allowed herself to lean into him as her legs gave out. Without hesitation, he scooped her up. The pain she hadn't felt before flooded her body and she let out a cry her face screwing up in pain.

"It's going to be okay," Shiro said softly his voice calming as a soft breeze.

"Keith, Lance, and Hunk, I'm going to take Pidge back to the castle. Do a quick perimeter check and make sure that the Galra we saw leave was the only Galra that were here," Shiro said with a slight edge to his voice.

Pidge closed her eyes as Shiro's steps became steady and consistent. She rested her head against his shoulder willing for the pain to leave.

They had just entered the castle's medbay when another series of explosions littered the surface of the planet. Starting in the main city and spanning outwards to the forest. Pidge heard Shiro's comms crackle to life before dying away. His face darkened as he set her gently on a bed before turning to leave the room.

"S-" she opened her mouth to call out to him only to close it when he turned to face her.

"I'll be back. You stay right here and allow Coran to get you into a pod."

Once again she opened her mouth to protest. They needed her out there hurt or not.

"Promise me," he said firmly cutting off any chance for an argument.

"I Promise."

With that, he turned and the med bay's doors closed behind him.


	8. The Child, The Flames, & The Competition

The castle doors closed behind Shiro and he broke into a run. He needed to get back to the others quickly for all he knew they could be pinned down behind some rubble while the Galra lit up their hiding spot.

An explosion to his right caused him to stumble a little as the ground shook beneath him. In that split second that he stopped himself from falling flat on his face, a flash across his vision of Pidge emerging from behind a piece of rubble. A layer of dirt covered her entirely making her wide caramel eyes pop out even more so. A section of her hair was matted to her forehead.

He gritted his teeth as the image faded from the front of his mind. Pushing himself to continue he quickly came to the recently destroyed room.

Ducking behind a piece of rubble leaning against the wall he caught a glimpse of red armor doing the same. A few seconds later the ground was being littered with blasts sending dirt and sharp rocks flying.

As quickly as it had come it stopped. Shiro crept forward his eyes immediately catching Keith, Lance, and Hunk creeping out into the open as well.

They met in the middle glancing around half expecting a surprise attack.

"What's the plan?" Keith asked.

"Regroup back at the castle?" Hunk suggested.

"Are the Galra gone?" Shiro asked glancing up to the sky. All he saw was the empty blue sky being partly clouded by the smoke that rose from the charred ground around them.

"Let's be honest is the Galra every really gone?" Keith inquired rolling his eyes.

"True," Shiro glance around one last time, "Okay let's regroup back at the castle, asses our resources, and then see what we can do to help the Olkari recover."

Walking to the castle the paladins kept their eyes trained on the sky and on the forest line. A movement to Keith's right caused him to activate his bayard, the others following his lead. The brush continued to shudder with movement as an Olkari child stumbled out of the brush landing on their knees.

They were shaking their hands gripping their ripped tunic as they stared at the Paladins wide-eyed. The child didn't speak, it just sat there waiting to see what they would do. Their copper eyes flicked over each one of them. The paladins could see a scared traumatized child, while the child saw intimidating soldiers that had weapons that could easily kill him. Hunk was the first to drop his weapon kicking it away. Slowly he dropped to his knees holding his hands to where the child could see them.

Seeing that they were no threat the child ran to Hunk throwing themselves onto him and holding on tight before breaking down in tears. Hunk held them close giving unspoken reassurance.

XxX

The castle doors opened upon approach and they entered. The group followed Hunk to the Med bay who was still holding the child they had come across. They had managed to calm down but sniffles could still be heard. The child hadn't said a word since they started walking they just observed the paladins with wide eyes.

Just as they were about to enter the Med Bay the doors opened. Coran was exiting the room a tattered green dress draped over his arm. He caught sight of the child clinging to Hunk his eyes wide with curiosity. "Oh! Who do we have here?" he asked closing the space between them quickly glancing over the small being.

"We found him just outside the city," Shiro replies quickly, "Coran, how's Pidge doing?"

Coran appears to not have heard Shiro and continues to look over the child checking for injury. "He appears to be fine although it wouldn't hurt to put him in a pod just to be safe,"

Hunk nods and moves past Coran to the med bay mumbling encouraging words to the Olkari. Lance and Kieth are on either side of Shiro their gazes fixated on the dress still draped over Coran's arm.

"Pidge is doing okay. She should be out soon," Coran starts as he moves down the corridor away from the medbay, "I was surprised she got into the pod with no argument." He glanced back at Shiro before returning his gaze back forward. Shiro smiled at the floor his lips fighting to stay neutral.

Coran turned the corner and stopped in front of a blank wall. Pressing his hand on a single panel, there was a small click before a panel about medium size slide up. The panel revealed a flatbed of red hot coals. The heat wafted out making everyone step to the side or step back. Coran tossed the dress onto the coals, it immediately went up in flames.

"Coran?!? What are you doing?!?" Shiro stared at the blacking fabric.

"The fabric was ruined beyond repair. There was no point in fixing it. Besides...She asked me to get rid of it." Coran whispered the last part turning his body slightly away.

Shiro glanced between Coran and the flames that licked at the dress making it smaller and smaller. Soon there wasn't going to be anything left. "Wh-Why would she do that?" he asked his brows furrowed in concern or was it confusion?

"She agreed with me that it was beyond repair. She had another reason she wanted to rid of it but she refused to tell me." Coran replies shrugging.

Keith stepped forward, "Why don't we get changed and then we can ask her once she gets out of the pod?"

Everyone agreed except Lance who seemed to have disappeared at some point during their trek to the incinerator. Not bringing to much attention to it Shiro made his way to his room slipping out of his armor and into his usual vest and pants.

XxX

The way to the med bay seemed longer than he remembered, he ended up blaming it on the fact that he was worn out from the day's events. As he came closer to the doors they picked up his movement and slide open upon his approach.

The doors opened to reveal Hunk passed out by the pod that held the mysterious child, but that's not what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the two people embracing just in front of an open pod. Shiro felt his face grow warm with the embarrassment and quickly looked at the floor. He should've known that Lance got to her first. He risked another glance and he felt something snap. He couldn't stand how close they were to each other, how their arms wrapped around one another with no awkwardness.

Without alerting them to his presence he stepped back and allowed the doors to close in front of him. He turned away feeling defeated, he thought he was on the right course to win Pidge over but it turns out he was on the wrong one. He must've always been because someone else was ahead of him and that person was Lance. He recalled the comment that Lance made about Pidge opening up to him about what was going on and he ran his hand through his hair.

"Why him of all people?" He spoke aloud to himself. The corridor seemed to echo the question over and over again.


	9. Guilt

Lance released Pidge from the vise-like grip he had held her from the moment the pod released her. She had struggled against his fierce affection almost immediately, but when he refused to let go she sighed and returned the hug. Pidge tried to end the hug, but Lance held her even tighter, so she ended up just standing there her arms around him and his around her. His head was resting upon her's.

"I'm so glad you're alright," He mumbles into her hair, "I don't know what we would do if we lost another teammate."

He's on the verge of tears. She can tell the way his voice quivered when he spoke. Pulling from the hug Pidge looked up into his face to find tears in his eyes. He blinked once. Twice. A tear fell and he looked away clearing his throat.

"Lance?" She placed a hand on his shoulder encouraging him to speak.

"I'm fine." he replied still not meeting her gaze, "I was just worried is all," he turned back to her, his eyes vacant and facial expression blank. He reached out and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Be careful next time. Watch your surroundings. Okay?"

Pidge nodded. She stood in silence as Lance turned and left the room. _He still feels guilty about Allura. He blamed himself for what happened with Allura, and now he's doing it with me._

She turned to find Hunk slumped against the Cryopod, passed out asleep. Pidge shook her head smiling as she headed to her room.

* * *

As soon as the doors closed Lance leaned heavily against them his legs threating to give out. He covered his eyes with the palms of his hands as he forced the tears to stop. When he finally did remove his hands his breath was still shaky with the promise of new tears. Shaking his head he pushed off of the door and walked down the corridor, not having a destination in mind.

_Allura's gone because of me, and now we almost lost Pidge. If only I had been quicker I may have been able to save Allura and things would still be normal._

He turned down the corridor heading towards the bridge. Having this overwhelming feeling that left a pit in his stomach, he looked behind him. Turning into the corridor was Shiro. He ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. Shiro looked defeated. His shoulders were hunched forward His head lowered slightly. His eyes flicked up to make sure he wasn't going to run anything before flicking down again. Almost immediately his head shot up his eyes meeting Lance's

Lance waved to him, awkwardly dropping his hand as Shiro closed the distance between them. He cleared his throat flashing a smile.

"Hey Shiro," Lance said casually. He slipped his hands into his back pockets as he rocked back onto his heels. He didn't know why he was nervous but his gut told him he should be.

Shiro nodded his greeting. "How's Pidge?" the question made his voice sound distant as if he was uninterested.

"Pidge's okay," he responded. _Thank Go_d. he thought to himself. "I'm sure she would love to see you." Lance tilted his head to the right a little as he waited for a response.

At first, Shiro prepared appeared to considered his head ready to nod. Something must've changed though because his eyes dimmed and he ended up shaking his head. "I'll see her later. Besides she has you, so you should probably get back to her.

Lance couldn't believe what he was hearing. Shiro was denying the opportunity to check on a teammate. _He said I should._ Lance tried his best to keep from smiling. _Oh my God._

"Are you Jealous?" Lance asked. He was giddy with excitement. Shiro turned his head slightly to the side not meeting Lance's gaze. "Oh my God. You are!" he started snickering.

Shiro glared at him silently, contemplating whether or not he should smack Lance across the face to shut him up. The blue paladin was starting to get on his nerves lately and he would love nothing more than to wipe that smile off his face.

He never got the chance, because Pidge came around the corner. She was back in her regular clothes, her brother's glasses resting on her face. A smile grew on her face as she approached. Greeting them she stopped next to Lance.

Lance glanced over at her before making eye contact with Shiro. He never broke eye contact as his arm snaked around Pidge's shoulders pulling her slightly closer.

Shiro glared at Lance as if daring him to continue with his teasing. He could feel his nails digging into the palms of his hands. The muscles in his arms and back tensed as Lance's lips curved slightly upward at his reaction. He was having way too much fun.

A slight movement just enough for Shiro to notice that Pidge moved an inch closer to Lance. She smiled at Shiro her eyes moving to just behind him.

"Coran!" Pidge broke away from the group running to catch up to the Altean. They disappeared around the corner. Pidge talking all the way.

Shiro watched her go as if nothing had happened. That it was just another day. As soon as he could no longer hear them he turned to Lance.

"What the hell is your problem?" Shiro asked. His voice was as cold as the steel grey that reflected in his eyes.

Lance shrugged, "I don't have a problem."

"I'm sorry. Let me rephrase that. What the hell was that?" he asked. Gesturing to the vacant space next to Lance.

Lance smirked, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shiro sighed, closing his eyes. "Just forget it," he pushed past Lance continuing down the empty corridor.

* * *

**AN: HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH! **

**Thank you so much for reading. It means a lot that you guys enjoy reading my writing!**


	10. Missing

Pidge could hardly wait to leave Lance and Shiro. The tension was so thick she could practically taste it, and somehow she knew that she was the cause of all of it, even though she wanted no part in whatever drama was between them. Shaking her head she said a quick goodbye to Coran and darted down the next hallway they came too.

The door to her lab slid open, the lights flicking on as she walked in. Making her way through the mess of scattered parts she made it to the practically empty desk in the center of the room. Something was still bothering her. The Galra did show up yes, but who planted the bomb? They surely wouldn't have been missed if they just walked through the front door. Opening her laptop she pulled a file up that showed the layout of the building. According to the blueprint she had there should have been a security camera inside the room and one just outside the door. So now the question was how she was going to acquire the footage. With the entire room destroyed the only way she would be able to get the footage was if they recorded it onto another device.

Closing her laptop she rested her head on her hands deep in thought. With so little to go on, she had no idea who would've had access to the room before the meeting. She pushed back from the desk rolling out into the center of the room. She tilted her head back so she was looking up at the ceiling. The light grey that colored the room captivated her as her feet automatically twisted the chair in circles.

She could still see the flash of annoyance that crossed Shiro's face when Lance placed his arm around her pulling her close. She didn't understand why he seemed so upset they were just friends, nothing more. I mean her and Lance had always been closer than most friends but that never stopped her from liking someone else. Lance had always seemed to have his eye on one person or another anyway. I mean they were friends, friends that sometimes used each other as a significant other when they wanted to let another person down gently, but that rarely happened.

The door to her lab opened tilting her head up to see who it was. Seeing that it was Keith she returned to her previous position. As long as it wasn't Lance or Shiro or both, she shuddered. She could handle Keith as long as he had nothing to do with the drama between the blue and black paladins.

"Hey Keith," she called out her voice distracted as she kept her eyes trained on the ceiling.

Keith situated himself on her desk before he responded, "I guess you've seen them too?"

Pidge sat up her interest peaked. "If you're referring to the drama queens then, yes I have. I made the mistake of approaching them in the hallway."

"Oh? how'd that go?"

"I felt like a was suffocating the tension was so thick, and..." she trailed off. The thought crossed her mind once before and it made sense in her head, but saying it out loud just seemed wrong.

"And?" Keith prompted her helping her to continue her thought.

She shook her head, "Nevermind."

"What are you doing here anyway? Besides the whole staring at the ceiling thing." He looked up at the ceiling tracing the lines with his eyes.

"Keith, this is my lab. I could be doing several things, but since you asked-" she rolled back over to the desk opening her laptop- "I was looking at the blueprints of the building the Galra decided to flatten and noticed where a few of the security cameras were placed. So now I just need to figure out how I can get my hands on some of that footage."

"Maybe we could talk to the Olkari?"

"Maybe. But wouldn't it be too soon? I mean it's only hours after the-"

Pidge is cut off from Hunk bursting into the room. He's out of breath as he runs frantically from one side of the room to the other. Eyes wide as he searches behind boxes.

"Hunk? What are you looking for?" Pidge asked tilting her head to the side.

He didn't bother to look at them as he responded, rather paying attention to the pile of containers stacked in the corner. "Small Olkari...woke up...Not there...Nor here...god, where is he?" He spun around hands gripping his hair.

"Hunk, it's okay will find him," Pidge responded getting up from the chair, " This is a new place to him he's probably somewhere on the castle."

"Yeah, somewhere that's cold and dark and-Oh god what have I done?" he covered his mouth with his hands before smacking himself in the forehead, "What if I killed him? The one time I helped watch a victim and he's missing!" he sank to his knees his face paling, "I'm not worthy to be a paladin!" he cried out his voice filling with despair.

"Hunk calm down, you're overacting," Pidge replied placing a hand on his shoulder, "When we find him you'll see that he's perfectly fine. She glanced over at Keith hoping to gain some support to help their distraught friend.

"Y-Yeah, you'll see. He probably just got curious and wondered off. there's no harm in exploring a bit now is there?" Keith asked shrugging when Pidge gave him a weird look.

"No, I guess not," Hunk sniffed, "I just freaked out when I woke up and saw that he was nowhere in the room." Pidge patted his shoulder.

Sound from the intercom caused all three to turn their heads.

_"Now listen here! I told you not to touch anything!" _ Coran's voice could be heard rising an octave as he warned the intruder again, _"Young man what did I tell you!" _

A crash sounded. A groan from Coran, then laughter fading from the room. _"You get back here you little twerp and clean up the mess you created!"_

The intercom clicked off and the three Paladins burst into laughter.


	11. Shock at First Site

The three Paladins sprinted to the bridge bursting through the door to find Coran in the center of the room, his eyes following the small Olkari running circles around him. His laughter filling the room every time Coran tried to grab him only to fall flat on his face.

Hunk lept into action. Reaching out he grabbed the boy and lifted him into the air, spinning him around. The boy shrieked with laughter and held his arms up.

When Hunk finally lowered him to where he could hold him easier the other three people in the room approached. Coran didn't bother to hide his look of annoyance from his face as he adjusted his clothes and smoothed his hair.

"You hungry little guy?" Hunk asked. The Olkari placed his small hands on his stomach and nodded. "Well then let's get you something to eat!" Hunk replied happily. Now that he knew the Olkari child was safe he was more than glad to get him something to eat.

* * *

It had been a few hours since the Olkari child had been found and Pidge was back to working in her lab. After many failed attempts to make contact with the Olkari, she had concluded that she was just going to have to go to the scene herself.

Slinging a bag, that held a few field analysis devices, over her shoulder she strode from the room. With all that, she had to look for she would probably get so lost in what she was doing to even pay attention to what was going on around her. Even though she hated the idea she knew it was better than being found dead amongst the rubble, she shuddered as a diplomat came to mind.

He had been trying to open the door when the first bomb went off. In a panicked frenzy, he had run from the door to the table. He never made it. Above him, a huge slab of the ceiling broke off and plummeted to the ground crushing him mid-stride.

She shuddered again as she heard the sickening crunch of his bones breaking. The sound had only haunted her nightmares before, but this? This was a whole new level. Her hand placed itself against the wall fighting to keep her upright. Screams of the dying and gunshots filled her head and she let out a whimper. She felt a hand touch her shoulder gently and she jumped nearly knocking Keith out in the process.

"Geez, Pidge you alright?" Keith asked, "You looked like you were seeing something."

She took a deep breath. _Since when was she out of breath?_ "Sorry Keith, I didn't mean too. You just scared me is all." she fiddled with the strap of the bag, "Say are you doing anything at the moment?"

"Yeah, Coran nabbed me right before I was about to head to the training deck. I'm helping him run tests apparently," he replied rolling his eyes.

"Oh, Ok! well... have fun!" she waved to him before continuing down the hall.

"Don't count on it!" he called back.

Hunk was going to be too busy with the Olkari, which means...oh no...

She groaned at the thought of having either one with her, and just when she started to fall for one of them too, they had to go and be all dramatic.

* * *

Pidge found them both a few minutes later on the training deck go at it with each other. Lance would strike, only to have Shiro come back twice as fast and just as hard.

"Hey, guys?" she called out. However, she got no response. Surely that was loud enough that they would've heard it.

"Hello!" She called again only to end with the same result. Sighing she looked to her left and found the light switch to the room. Smirking she reached over and flipped it off without hesitation or warning.

_A gasp._

The sound of two bodies colliding together before hitting the ground reached her hears. She flipped the light back on to fin Lance and Shiro in a tangled mess on the floor. She approached them her patience growing thinner.

"There are other ways of getting people's attention you know that right?" Lance asked rubbing the back of his head.

"I tried to trust me, but that's beside the point. I was wondering if you guys would be willing to help me with something?"

"What's up?" Shiro asked shooting Lance an annoyed look before giving Pidge a friendlier look.

"I was wondering if you two could be my eyes and ears while I look over the crime scene?" She looked between the both of them her eyes pleading.

"Pidge the Olkari have already searched the site several times they found no evidence as to what might've tipped off the Galra," Shiro responded cutting Lance off from speaking.

"Please, I know they must've missed something. It just doesn't feel right that out of the million possible locations they could've chosen from they pick one that just happens to be having a diplomatic meeting that is against their cause?" Pidge crossed her arms waiting for a response.

* * *

"Pidge, do me a favor and remind me never to get into a debate with you," Shiro said over the comms.

From the front of the group, Pidge turned around and gave him a smirk, "Sure thing Shiro!"

They came upon the site almost immediately. Lance and Shiro hardly reacted when they saw the blown apart buildings and gaping craters in the building, and simply moved on.

Pidge, on the other hand, stopped. Her eyes widen and her mouth agape. Shiro noticed a few steps later that the smallest paladin was no longer walking beside them. He turned to find her entranced by the destruction of what once was a beautiful building. Stopping Lance he went back to her.

If you looked closely you could still see smoke rising from the ground. Among the rubble were small pink flowers marking the graves of the diplomats who were buried so bad the Olkari couldn't remove them until they made some bigger machinery. The sight caused Pidge to choke back a cry.

"We need to figure out who did this," she said, mostly to herself as he came closer.

"We will, but first we need to find something that could help us do that."

Tearing her gaze from the decimated section of land she nodded her agreement, "The sooner we can figure out who did this the sooner we can get these people a proper burial.


	12. The Clearing

It didn't take them long to find the entrance that had led to the hall, but nothing changed except the view on how they were viewing the damage. Pidge glanced around her eyes following the entrance. The beautifully carved stone suddenly cut off showing instead torn up earth and building remains.

"What else could there be that the Olkari missed?" Lance asked walking back and forth down the hall. He for once had remained quiet as well as Shiro. It wasn't that difficult having them both near each other.

"I'm not sure," Pidge mumbled to herself. She wasn't even sure of what she was looking for exactly. Nothing seemed off about the other day that could lead her to believe that was the cause for the Galra attack. She turned away from the door heading down an unfamiliar hallway. Shiro and Lance remained behind continuing to look over things that have already been discovered. Pidge knew that they were missing something to the puzzle she just didn't know what.

Turning the corner she noticed that the hallway that used to be a dead-end was now wide open leading into the forest. Leaving her bag just inside she continued through the leaves and branches into the forest.

Moments later she stumbled into a clearing. The clearing was littered with several sets of footprints all of them appearing to be the same ones. There were many other debris that could've drawn her attention, but none of them sent chills through her body like the mangled body off to the side of the clearing partly hidden by some bushes.

It had been shot several times by the way the face and chest were completely covered in dried blood and skin being torn off. To the side was a black bag tipped over onto its side.

This is terrible. Pidge thought kneeling to get a closer look. She reached to set the bag up and brush off the dirt. Not that it's going to matter since they are already dead.

As the bag was set up right a small rectangular item fell out of the bag landing in the dirt. Muttering a curse about how she should be more careful she picked it up and brushed off the dirt only to drop it again when she saw what it was.

She picked it up again her heart racing. Fliping it over she looked over the identification card once again. It was the same tech guy that she and Oskana had run into before the meeting. She had felt something was off, but she hadn't given it much thought and now she was wishing she would have.

A crack of a branch sounded behind her and she summoned her bayard. Without thinking she spun around up to her feet sending her grappling hook flying. Whoever it was, dove to the side. Her grappling hook ended up slicing through a tree across the clearing. ( I know in the show it probably couldn't but for this fanfic, it can ;) )

The cracking of a tree moments before it tipped could be heard echoed throughout the forest. Pidge looked up to see the canopy of a leave filled tree crashing towards her. She was frozen to the spot her eyes wide. Without warning, a body slammed into her. She felt strong arms wrap around her as they hit the ground. She let out a gasp as she felt a sudden weight on top of her.

Opening her eyes she saw Shiro above her his legs straddling her. Her face immediately went red and she tried to cover her face with her hands. Instead, she ended up smacking him in the face and he sat back on his knees his hand covering his nose.

"Oh my god Shiro! Are you okay?" Pidge Asked sitting up a hand covering her mouth in shock.

He waved his hand as he pulled his other one away from his nose. Seeing that there was no blood he shook his head, "That is one way to thank the person who kept you from being crushed by a tree."

"I didn't know it was you at first and then the tree and-" she reached a hand towards his face wanting to make sure that he was truly okay.

"Katie, it's okay," he replied laughing. His laughter brought warmth to Pidge that she knew she never wanted to leave. Her cider eyes met his as his steel eyes met hers. Time seemed to stop around them as they held each others gaze. Pidges fingers gently brushed the tip of his nose causing him to close his eyes. She then traced his scar that ran over the ridge of his nose. Opening his eyes Shiro gently enclosed her hand in his and lowered it from his face. He brought his free hand up to brush a strand of hair out of her face that she didn't notice until he tucked it behind her ear. Her lips were parted slightly wanting to say something, but not sure what.

"Hey, guys? what the hell happened out here?" Lance's voice rang out causing them both to leap apart. He leapt over the trunk of the tree landing in front of them.

"I may of sort of thought Shiro was a Galra so I fired my Bayard at him and instead hit the tree..."

"Sort of or did?" Lance questioned looking back at the tree.

"Did. Definitely did," Shiro answered giving her an amused look.


	13. I'm Not Sure I Want to Know

Pidge, Shiro, Lance all made there way back over the newly tipped tree and through the opening in the building. Pidge grabbed her bag and slipped it back over her shoulder continuing back on down the hall right back to where they started.

"It really sucks that we couldn't find anything else," Lance says glancing around as they exited the building. Pidge nodded in agreement her eyes glancing toward her hand closed firmly around the ID she had found in the forest.

"Yeah it really does," she replies slipping the ID into a pocket in her armor. She felt like she needed more to go on before she could tell the others. Gathering vital information was crucial and she felt like she was nowhere ready to share this newfound information with the others. Swallowing the butterflies that had made their way to her throat, she continued with the others back to the castle of lions.

* * *

Upon entering the castle of lions all three paladins heard a shriek that sent them into a run towards the lounge. Shiro was the first to enter the room only to find Hunk and the Olkari child rolling with fits of laughter. Relaxing they entered the room and settled themselves on the couch. The Olkari noticing the new people quieted down and curled himself close to Hunk his head turned away from them.

"Hey Hunk, do you know his name?" Pidge asked. She moved from side to side on the couch trying to see if she could get a glimpse of his face from where she was next to Hunk.

"No I Haven't, but he seems to respond to Taj," upon hearing the name the little Olkari lifted his head and looked towards Hunk before remembering that there were other people in the room. He looked around his eyes darting back and forth among the paladins.

"Hey little guy," Shiro said softly, waving at him. Taj looked from Shiro to Hunk, who gave him a nod.

Taj having made up his mind crawled from the safe embrace of Hunk and climbed down from the couch. He crossed the room and climbed up onto the couch before settling next to Shiro, his tiny arms wrapping around as far as they could go. Shiro watched with amusement as Taj got himself settled his eyes closing almost immediately.

The sight set Pidge's heart aflame and she had to force herself to look away several times, for fear she might draw attention to her warm face. She glanced back over at them before busing herself with digging through her bag. She would do anything to keep her distracted.

"Pidge?" Shiro asked.

She let out a squeak. She was not expecting to hear his voice call her name. the bag dropped from her hands to the couch and she froze her breath fast as her heartbeat.

"You okay?" Shiro asked raising his eyebrows, "You've gone through that bag at least four times."

Hearing that he had been watching her caused her face to grow warm once more. She once again grabbed the bag hiding her face pretending to dig through it once more. "Uh, yeah I-I thought I put a certain tool in here, but I guess I didn't. It may still be in my lab. I'm going to go get it. Okay bye!" in one smooth motion she had lept over the back of the couch and had run out the door. The only problem was that she had left her bag with other devices sitting on the couch.

* * *

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." Pidge paced back and forth. She adjusted and readjusted her gauntlets over and over again before taking them off. She fumbled with them for a minute before finally setting the first on her desk in front of her. She managed to get the second off only for it to drop from her hands and rolled under the desk.

Sighing she dropped to her knees disappearing under the desk to retrieve her runaway armor. She had just grabbed it when a pair of feet adorned in black paladin armor appeared in front of her desk. Her eyes grew wide and her body refused to move.

"Pidge?"

Hitting her head on the desk she let out a mumbled curse. She backed out from beneath the desk. Standing up she put her second gauntlet next to the first clearing her throat.

"Hey, Shiro," she replied as casually as she could. She didn't look at him instead she busied herself with removing her armor. She became so focused she forgot that Shiro was there. She only remembered that he had been when she heard her lab doors close. When she looked up she found her bag that she had left in the lounge.

Something broke in her when she realized what had happened. She glanced from the bag to the door and back again. She slumped back in her chair groaning aloud. "Why can't everything just be simple?"

"Cause it takes the fun out of it," She sat up to find Lance leaning against the doorway. He smirked at her and entered her lab finding himself a seat on her desk.

She sighed and turned her attention back to removing her armor. "Hello, Lance," She pulled her chest plate over her head and dropped it on the floor next to her boots.

"Something up?" he asked his bright mood dimming slightly, "You seem off,"

"Oh what gave you that idea?" she asked rising from her chair and approaching a box where she kept an extra set of clothes for occasions just like this, where she didn't feel like returning to her room.

"Oh let me guess!" Lance clapped his hands together, his eyes bright.

"Go ahead," she waved her hand her back towards him. A few seconds later she turned back towards him a shirt in hand.

"Period?"

At the comment, she glared at him, threw the shirt at him, and returned to the box once more to find yet another shirt.

"Kidding," Lance said laughing as he caught the shirt. "You're a lot meaner when you are on-"

The glare Pidge gave him was enough for him to stop talking about it. When she turned back he cleared his throat, setting her shirt to the side.

"Is it boy problems?" Lance asked. He had gotten quiet all of a sudden like he knew that was the reason.

She cleared her throat. "You could say that, yes," she set her clothes on the desk. With one hand she motioned for Lance to turn around. He did so without complaint. This was not an unusual occurrence for either of them as they often talked about their own problems that they were having with the other person.

They continued to talk while Pidge changed out of her undersuit. Lance nodding along while he listened.

"You could say that there is a guy I like that I'm not sure if he feels the same way." Pidge said, "Of course I'm not sure that I want to know."

By this point, Pidge was done changing and Lance has turned back around. His lips where pursed deep in thought.

"Why wouldn't you want to know? Wouldn't it be better to know so you can move on if you need to?"

Pidge tilted her head back and forth, "I mean yeah, but I just feel like it's going to be awkward for everyone here."

Lance shook his head, "I don't know what your thinking, but it may be like that at first after he rejects you-"

"Wait you think he's going to reject me? Why?" She latched onto his arms her eyes wide with panic, "Lance why do you think he's going to reject me?"

"If we're talking about who I think we are talking about then no. He's not going to reject you. Because you're beautiful and amazing. No one could every outshine you. If this guy rejects you then he has no idea what he's missing-" He brushed a piece of hair out of her face- "Pidge you're incredibly smart, who wouldn't want that?"

Pidge ducked her head chuckling. She did it partly to hide the blush crawling into her cheeks and the tears that were forming at the corners of her eyes. Lance lifted her chin with the edge of her finger giving her a soft smile. The tears spilled over and she couldn't keep from laughing.

"Thanks, Lance," she said smiling.

"Anytime," he replied pulling her into a hug.


	14. Sneaking out

The castle hallways were programed to dim while everyone was asleep making it almost impossible for one to see. This helped conserve the castle's energy, but did not make it easy to sneak out. The hallways were all lit by a single light that was more than halfway up the wall that didn't provide any help another than to let its precense be known.

With her hand pressed gently against the wall Pidge followed the lenght of it until it ended abruptly and fell to the right. Stopping she turned, her back pressed against the wall and with her hands outstreched she walked across the width of the hallway to the otherside. Placing her hand back on the wall she followed it to the left her eyes trained straight in front of her. She was almost to her lion's chamber, where there was a door she could exit the ship from without coming across anyone who might still be up. This path she had taken many times before when the halls were lit and when she was supposed to be asleep but instead went to spend time with her lion.

She glanced behind her her eyes serching the blackness for any sign someone might be up. She knew that she shouldn't do this, at least not without backup or even a solid plan for that matter, but she couldn't wait she wanted to figure out why a native Olkari would place a bomb in one of their own buildings. Pidge was fimilair with terriosm yes, but something about it felt like it was more than just a native, wanting to kill vital people to the coalition.

Reaching her lion's chamber at last she placed her helmet firmly on her head. Pausing for just a moment to make sure that no one was just right outstide she turned and opened the door. She stepped outside the cool night meeting her with a breeze that felt like home. It had been so long since they had been on earth she had forgotten what it felt like. The feeling pricked her eyes with tears and she stood there a moment.

Before long her task came back to mind and she quickly tore herself away from the castle and trotted across the short clearing to the city. It was absolute silence when she first entered the city not a soul in sight.

The streets were dark as Pidge made her way through the city. Ducking through alleyways and crossing barely lit streets she suddenly found herself in the town square not a soul in sight.

From what she could see most of the buildings were dark, however, a structure to her left caught her attention. Turning she found the curtains drawn, but despite that the light behind them still filtered through. The building itself was older in style but not in the technical side of things.

Glancing around the empty square she made her way over to the building, pushing the door open. No one seemed to pay any mind to her as she entered most of the tables were filled with Olkari murmuring quietly.

Setting herself at the bar she turned to look behind her. The curtains that covered the window were a thin gray fabric that looked like good quality from a distance. Several candles were lit around the room causing the already prominent showdows to dance.

A glass was placed in front of her and she looked at the bartender confused. "I didn't order anything."

Not saying anything the bartender nodded his head behind her, before returning to his job of cleaning the glasses.

Pidge turned to find a cloaked figure with their hood up. Where she was supposed to see a face, she only saw blackness.

Picking up the glass she crossed the room and set it down on the wooden table with a dull thud. The figure shifted ever so slightly. Pidge slid into a chair across from them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Pidge growled. She didn't have time for weird figures to be following her.

The figure remained silent continuing to safe at her through the shadow their hood provided.

After a what seemed like forever words were finally spoken, leaning forward the figure whispered the following: "You need to stay out of where you don't belong."

With that they stood, tossed a few coins onto the table and disappeared through the door and into the empty streets.

Pidge sat there her eyes glued to the pile of coins. Reaching forward she picked up one her eyebrows furrowed.

Held between her forefinger and her thumb was a simple washer. No, not an alien washer, but a round silver washer that you would find on earth. Gripping it firmly in her hand she bolted from the from the chair and out the door.

Stopping in the town square she spun around trying to find some sign as to where the figure could've disappeared to.

A crash behind her caused her to spin around her bayard activated. She turned just in time to see a black cloak disappearing down a dark alleyway.

Breaking into a run Pidge darted after them allowing her presence to be known. They darted through several alleayways. Jumping over abandoned crates and sliding under fences that were misbuilt Pidge was able to gain on the retreating figure.

To her good fortune the figure stumbled falling forward. Pidge lept forward pinning their arms to their side as they fell.

Landing on top of them Pidge quickly moved to where she could turn them over, so she could see the face of the person who wanted her to stay out of investigating the attack.

Her eyes widened when she saw who it was her grip on the figure slackening. Her lips moved trying to find the right words to say although no sound came out.

The figure noticed her slackening grip and took action. Reaching into the folds of her cloak she pulled out a small dagger. Pulling back they slammed the handle of the dagger against Pidge's temple and she slumped to the ground.

As Pidge's eyesight faded to blackness she could only wonder why Oskana wanted her to stay out of investigating the bombing...


	15. Hostage

Sitting up under a barely comfortable cot that was thinner than her patience with Lance, Pidge glanced around to find herself in a beat-up old shack. The entirety of the shack was one room with a small fire pit in the center of the dirt floor. Rising to her feet she crossed the room to a wall with a small window in the center of it. There were several hardly noticeable scratches along with a very long and dominant crack diagonally across the glass.

Upon looking out the window she had come to find that she was no longer in the city. The city was, in fact, several yards away from her, the lights from buildings that shone through the darkness confirmed that for her. The shack itself was settled high enough up on the mountain for her not to simply climb out of the window and head back to the Castle of Lions. Upon this realization, she became aware of a door opening behind her. She turned to find Oskana entering the space with a bag draped over her shoulder.

"Glad to see you awake," she said dropping the sack onto the counter. A loaf of bread and a couple of tighter wrapped packages tumbled from the tipped over sack. She knelt next to the firepit and began placing a few pieces of kindling inside.

"Why?" Pidge asked not moving from her spot next to the window. She didn't trust Oskana, not after everything's that's happened. She balled her hands at her side her eyes narrowing, "Why are you doing this?"

Oskana took her time responding, allowing the flames to catch on the kindling before adding larger pieces of wood. "I don't have to explain myself to you," She said her eyes reflecting the flames as they licked at the dry wood.

"Fine. Then I'm leaving," Pidge stated flatly. She moved from her position next to the window, crossing the small room to the door Oskana had entered moments before. She was just about to reach for the handle when out of nowhere she was suddenly staring at a dagger protruding from the door. Jumping back she whirled around to find Oskana settling back down next to the fire, this time with a couple of pieces of meat rotating on a stick over the fire.

"I wouldn't leave just yet," She says after a moment her eyes never leaving the fire. This was not the same person she had met at the diplomatic meeting. This wasn't the sweet girl that she had witnessed fangirling over her when she confirmed that she was the green paladin.

Pidge took one last look at the blade before crossing the room once again and sitting across from Oskana the fire between them. She stared so intently at the fire that Pidge was almost convinced that she was conversing with it telepathically. Which wouldn't be unexpected based on some things that she has seen.

After what seemed like forever she finally looked up, the pain that reflected in her eyes for a split second was immediately recognized by Pidge. She was only too familiar with the pain that she had seen in her own eyes when her brother and father had gone missing on the Kerberos mission. Before she had a chance to voice her thoughts Oskana jumped in her voice laced with a wave of anger that mimicked her own.

"You're going to stay here. The galra have already been contacted and they are on their way," she smirked the orange and yellow flames making it all the more sinister, "they were quite pleased when I told them that I had the green paladin held captive."

Pidge stared at her, shock and anger evident on her face as she took in what she was saying. She shifted slightly her legs itching to run out of the shack and back to the castle, but something told her to stay put and she was right to do so. Seconds later Oskana rose from her place and turned to set the meat down on a platter, when she turned back she held a pistol in her hand. The pistol was Olkari in design but had a few galra attributes to it.

Remaining as calm as she could Pidge simply stared back at her waiting for her next move. Oskana gestured with the weapon for her to rise, Pidge obliged keeping her hands raised by her head. Oskana approached a pair of cuffs in her free hand. She placed them firmly on Pidge's wrists pressing firmly as if she was trying to make it hurt.

"You don't have to do this," Pidge said barely above a whisper. It was slight, but she noticed Oskana hesitate the slightest, she recovered quickly by grabbing Pidge ruffly by the arm and spinning her to face the wall.

"Go sit down and don't try anything," she pressed the pistol against Pidge's lower back making sure she could feel it through her undersuit. Pidge did what she said without argument her only hope now was for her friends to notice her absence and come looking for her.

* * *

The Paladins were all gathered on the training deck, except for Pidge and Lance. Shiro was pacing, although he was doing to his best to make it look as casual as possible. The poor guy was panic-stricken, his eyebrows were furrowed in worry as he glanced at the door every so often. Pidge was never late for training, there was one time but that was when she had been sick and couldn't walk without feeling nauseous.

Finally, the doors opened, he turned to find the blue paladin entering his arms stretched far above his head in a stretch. Pidge was nowhere behind him and the thought that she might be sick again sent Shiro a step towards the door. That is until he heard the conversation going down between Hunk and Lance.

"Dude, Last night Pidge was acting weird," Lance said quietly.

"Why do you think that is?" Hunk asked.

"I have no idea. I never had the chance to ask before she left-"

Lance had barely gotten the words out before he found himself slammed against the wall, feet barely brushing the floor, one of Shiro's hands against his throat and his other pinning his right hand to the wall. The others jumped forward but stopped short when Lance waved them off with his free hand. Shiro was glaring at him like he would a galra officer and it scared him.

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice a low growl that sent a chill through Lance.

"I-I have no idea," he managed to gasp out, "I haven't seen her since last night."

"What were you two doing last night?"

The possessiveness that Lance picked up in Shiro's voice was frightening and he honestly was wishing he hadn't stepped into the training deck now. "As I said," he continued to say, taking a gasp for air as Shiro's hand loosened around his neck, "I have no idea, the last time I saw her she was disappearing down the hall in her armor. After that, I'm just as confused as you."

This seemed to convince Shiro enough and he released Lance who dropped to the floor gasping for air. Hunk approached only to have Lance wave him off as he rose back to his feet. By the time he did this, Shiro was halfway out the door.

"Tell Coran to pull the security footage up," he called back not bothering to look back to see if they heard.


	16. Riot

It wasn't long before the paladins figured out that Pidge had taken a late-night trip into the city. Lance was beyond upset that she hadn't told anyone where she was going, but instead up and left.

It was pointless for them to take their lions since they were so close to the city. Lance walked next to Keith with Hunk and Shiro in front. The two were a ways ahead and seemed to be in a serious conversation.

"Shiro seems to be …" Lance started to say only to trail off as he looked for the right word.

"Protective." Keith said from his side, "He's always been. With me, then with Matt even before Kerberos, and now Pidge."

Lance glanced back up at their leader a new light shining around him. He was no longer someone who he could use to get laughs from, but instead, someone who needed respect. He was risking his life alongside them. Not only was he fighting a war but was protecting each of them as well. He had been wrong before it wasn't possessiveness, but the protectiveness. Something that you would only find in family, close friends, and even lovers in some cases.

Clearing his throat he ran to catch up to Shiro and Hunk. By this time they were nearing the city. Both yellow and black paladins were scanning the horizon for potential incoming threats. Upon his approach, Shiro turned to acknowledge him.

Lance had his lips parted, his mouth ready to say something when shouts sounded from the city. The paladins broke into a run. Dashing through the streets they soon reached the town square. Where a group of Olkari gathered in a large group yelling and shouting at whoever was in the middle.

Shiro approached and began to shove his way into the crowd, only to get pushed back to the outside ring of people. No one was paying attention. At one point Hunk had to grab a child from the ground to keep the rioting adults from trampling them.

Activating his bayard Lance aimed the weapon into the air and fired. The shot sent everyone to the ground hands over their ears. A few children burst into tears their cries heard in the silence.

"I don't know what is going on out here," Shiro began his voice projecting over the crowd, "But-"

Out of the blue, the ground shook beneath them and a building behind burst into flames. The wave of heat knocked Lance and Shiro to their knees. Hunk and Keith who had been on the other side of the crowd rushed forward to help them up.

All at once the crowd roared with disbelief and hatred, one voice sounded above all the others. "He destroyed the orphanage! Get them!" The crowd surged forward. They overwhelmed the paladins, forcing them to lay face down on the ground.

Between the legs of the citizens. Shiro watched as a caped figure ran from an alleyway and disappeared back into the forest. He attempted a struggle against the hands that pinned his arms to his back. In response, his arms dug deeper into his armor.

One by one the paladins rose to their feet before being lead in a line deeper into the city. Yet, in the opposite direction, Shiro had seen the figure run to. He was certain that the figure was behind the building explosion. He glanced over at the others who seemed to have noticed the figure running back into the forest.

Pidge was still sitting against the wall, she hadn't moved in several hours. Every time she shifted to get into a better position Oskana made sure she knew that she was still watching.

Speaking of Oskana she had, moments, after Pidge had sat against the wall, had pulled a tin. Screwing the cap off she had thrown her head back taking a large swig.

"You know why I'm doing this?" she asked after swallowing.

Pidge remained silent. She knew enough that she didn't need to respond for her to continue. she didn't want to say anything as she was beyond ready to knock this girl clear to the next universe. Forget the sweet girl she had met before, this was someone completely different.

"It started with my brother and mother. They volunteered along with a few others, to travel to a neighboring planet. It had been recently attacked by the Galra. They were part of the relief effort to help them recover." She took a small sip, adjusted the gun in her hand, then took another drink. "A few weeks after they left my father received a message from the Galra, they were blackmailing him. He was breaking the law yes but most of all he was keeping my family alive….." She trailed off swirling the contents in the tin. "And now that he's dead, I will keep on helping the Galra until my mother and brother return to me." she set the tin down on the counter before glancing out the window.

The sun was high in the sky with not a cloud in the sky. "Well will you look at that…" she turned to face Pidge once again, "Looks like my friend was successful."

Before Pidge had a chance to even ask what she meant a second person ran into the shack a grin wide on their face. "Man you should've seen the crowd go completely crazy on the paladins! It was amazing!"

He didn't have to finish before Pidge felt her stomach drop and her heart to start racing. Oskana seemed to notice and smiled gesturing for her friend to take notice.

"You seem to be looking a little pale there."

Pidge didn't know how to respond.

"I didn't want to take the chance for your friends to find you. So I took the liberty of making sure that they became reoccupied with a situation of their own. Cause if they somehow got here before I was able to hand you over to the Galra that wouldn't be very good on my end. And we wouldn't want that now would we?"


	17. Relating is Everything

The Paladins walked through an archway decorated with vines and flowers. The archway itself was intricately carved stone. Along the sides were all sorts of etchings depicting the history. Of all things, this remained untouched by Galra hands.

They stopped in the center facing a large rock decorated with vines. At the top of the rock was a young Olkari about twenty if he were human. He glared down at the paladins making it known that he was one that they should not messed around with. He wore a simple tunic with no sash. His skin was navy with orange Olkari markings on his face.

He looked at them a moment longer. His eyes shimmered with hate, before finally turning to the crowd surrounding them.

"This is what I'm talking about!" he yelled, his voice reverberating throughout the surrounding trees."This is why we shouldn't trust Ryner. Ex-King Lubos was fake and handed us over! Now Ryner has allowed these people onto our planet and what to they bring with them?"

His voice silenced the crowd their eyes fixated on him nodding along with every word. In the pause he slid from the rock, landing on the ground the dirt shifting beneath him. He walked towards the Paladins his jaw tight and eyes narrowed to slits. He raised a shaky hand and pointed it at Shiro.

"These so-called Legendary Defenders bring the Galra with them! They destroyed a building that has been with us for ages and now they destroyed our orphanage! They are so low that they had to go and destroy an orphanage! Well, I say no more!" he pumped his fist in the air, "Today we will take back what is ours and these paladins will pay for what they've caused."

The crowd erupted in roars of their agreement. The few Olkari who could reach the paladins began to jostle them, one even throwing punches.

"Wait!"

The cry rang out above the crowd silencing it so much that they could hear the trees rustling in the breeze. The Olkari from before walked towards the paladins the crowd parting for him like butter.

"There's one more." He looked between them his eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Where's the fifth paladin?"

"I don't know," Shiro responded. He kept his eyes trained on the Olkari. It was the wrong thing to do. Seconds after the Olkari smacked him across the face, a red imprint already forming.

"LIES!" the Olkari screamed, "Where is she?" he paced back and forth between them, "I will find out so you might as well tell me now!"

From the end of the line, Keith spoke, "As Shiro said-" he looked up- "We don't know."He was pushing himself up from the dirt a moment later with a cut lip.

The other three Paladins shouts silenced when Olkari near them produced weapons."Now, I'm going to ask one more time. And if I don't get what I want then there's going to be a bigger problem then what we already have."

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on get up!"

Pidge jumped when the words brought a quick kick to her side seconds after the words reached her ears. Opening her eyes she found Oskana standing over her, a frown plastered on her face. Strapped to her hip was her pistol ready to fire at a moment's notice. She mumbled a curse to herself as she sat up, angry that she had allowed herself to fall asleep.

Reaching down she gripped Pidge's arm and hauled her to her feet. Pidge attempted a struggle but it was pointless while her hands were still bound.

"Where's your friend?" Pidge asked, facing straight, her eyes narrowed and jaw set. Her hands closed in tight fists, as Oskana marched her towards the door of the shack.

"He's around," was all she said before they left the shack and disappeared deeper into the woods.

They followed a path covered in small rocks. Low hanging branches overflowing with leaves made it hard to see farther down the path. Once Pidge tried to turn her head to look behind her only for Oskana to whip her head back around. Now with a sore neck, Pidge kept her eyes forward risking every so often to look over at Oskana.

She had her hand still wrapped around Pidge's upper arm. Every time a sound reached them from deeper in the woods. The grip on her arm tightened, only to loosen it again when the sound disappeared.

"There's no need to be so tense," Pidge said under her breath. Oskana remained quiet, although Pidge did feel her slacken her grip. With nothing else to occupy her time, she began to plan her escape.

Right now she knew for a fact that she was being taken to a secure location with the Galra. She also knew that she would fair better with Oskana then with the Galra.

"What are you getting out of this?"

"I've already told you my story what else to you want from me?" Oskana replied with a bite to her words.

"What are you getting out of this?" Pidge turned to look at her, "What's the point of this?"

Oskana sighed glancing down at the ground then back up to the trail. "I'm getting protection for myself, and for my mother and brother."

"No, you're not."Oskana turned to her so fast and Pidge threw her cuffed hands up in defense,

"They're using you."

"No. They're holding my family captive and I'm doing what I have to, to make sure that they come back alive."

"How many more times are you going to have to hand over innocent people, so you can protect your family?"

"As many as it takes."

"Those people have families too. They have people that they care about, and people that care about them. Yet, here you are taking them and handing them over to the enemy."

"I-I'm protecting my family..." she whispered. They both have stopped in the middle of the trail, facing each other.

"We can protect you, and we can rescue your family. That's our mission."

Oskana shook her head, "I can't lose them again." She turned her gaze back to Pidge staring into her eyes. Her lip quivered, "How do I know that I can trust you? You have no idea what this is like."

"Back on earth," Pidge shifted her weight to her left foot. "My brother and father were apart of a space expedition to Kerberos. They were both so excited," she smiled at the memory. "Then one night, we found on the news, that the crew had died due to pilot error."

She cleared her throat before continuing.

"Then after I joined Voltron I found that they were both alive. My brother joined a rebellion and my dad was being held captive. So we rescued him, and now both my brother and father are helping with the rebellion."

Oskana was staring at her awestruck her mouth agape.

"So yes I know what you're feeling. You feel helpless and are doing the only thing you know how to do. We can help you!" Pidge was holding onto Oskana now, her hands placed on her forearms.

Shrugging her off Oskana took a step back before reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small square, reaching out she took hold of Pidge's cuffs and entered the chip. There was a click and then the cuffs dropped from her hands.

"Pidge," Oskana said, "Run. Go get your team and hurry back. I'll try and buy you some time."

With a nod, Pidge took off back down the trail, and back towards the city.


	18. So Close

About halfway down the trail she began hearing footsteps to the left. Slowing to a stop, she listened as the footsteps followed her lead. Her suspicious eyes carefully traced the surrounding wood. Nothing stood out to her as a potential threat, but she undoubtedly felt someone observing her. Knowing she wasn't alone she gave one last look over her shoulder and continued on back down the path.

Not wanting the Galra to leave without a proper goodbye from the paladins, she increased her speed. She had to get back to the castle to get the others. Running through the woods made her realize she probably should have told them what she had found. If anyone she should've at least told Shiro. He was their leader, however, something inside her told her to keep quiet and wait until she had more to go off.

Straight in front of her was a massive pile of brush. It merely looked like it had just been placed across the dirt path. Activating her bayard, she fired it into the canopy above, seconds later she was halfway across the blockade.

Out of no where a spear came at her and she was reluctantly forced to let go. Pidge plummeted into the brush pile. The crooked sticks and branches that helped instantly break her fall were also the culprits who left paper thin scratches all along the exposed skin of her face that the helmet didn't cover.

With more of a motivation to get back to the castle, she crawled out of the pile of dead leaves and branches. Just as she was about to reach for her bayard another unknown hand entered and scooped it up.

"Not so fast Missy,"

Pidge looked up to discover Oskana's friend. Someone she had merely encountered a few times during the time she was being held captive.

"Just because you got away from Oskana, doesn't mean you'll get rid of me that easily." he smirked at her as he tossed gently her bayard into the air.

Pidge glared at him her hazel eyes narrowed to tight slits. "You are making a mistake," she snarled viciously at him.

"Oh and what's that?"

"If you don't give me my bayard your going to dearly wish the Galra were the ones who captured you."

"Please. The most you Paladins are naturally going to do is merely put me in the cell for a few dull days. Besides that goes against everything you stand for-" he reaches behind him and pulls out a blaster- "me on the other hand-not so much."

"Seriously?" Pidge asked to no one specifically, "what is it with everyone and pointing guns at me?" She took a step forward her hands resting casually at her side.

Oskana's friend promptly fired a warning shot. It released a cloud of dust into the breeze right next to Pidge's feet.

"I never did get your name," Pidge said politely taking another step closer.

"Zayd," he gestured impatiently with the loaded gun, "Now quit moving,"

Pidge held her hands up in direct response, "You see I would merely love to do that but their is only so much I have time for and being your prisoner it is not one of them."

With that she lunged for him, tackling him to the ground. Her utmost priority was to get the gun away from him. They both fidgeted with it for a considerable while, both pairs of hands fighting to get a grip. Their scuffling sent dirt flying up all around them. Most of it getting caught in the breeze.

Then all at once the world went still.

The distinctive sound of a gunshot ringing out through the extensive forest.

Extraordinary creatures strikingly resembling frightened birds taking to the air.

Two bodies tenderly laying in the dirt neither one moving.

* * *

"If you're not going to answer then were going to have to make you talk." The crowds leader had once again climbed to his elevated perch on exposed top of the towering rock.

"Pit"

"Pit"

"Pit"

The chant repeated itself over and over again among the local citizens surrounding the Paladins. They glanced cautiously to one another wondering what the hell was going on. Instead of a group of rebels, it felt as if they had been taken captive by a cult.

"They have a pit and what do we have?" Hunk inquired his eyes wide, "Nothing! We're going to die!"

From Shiro's side, Keith wisely kept his cool his face unreadable as he knowingly allowed the outraged citizens surrounding them to know they should not come closer with his actions.

"Nothing to say? Alright."their leader waved his hand, "Off to the pit with them."

The crowd surged around the four paladins who barely had a chance to fight back before they were overpowered. It had been seconds before they were dropped into a pit that barely had enough room for them to lay down.

"Maybe this will promptly change your mind about telling me where the fifth paladin is. You have two minutes before I come back and we go to more extreme measures."

"We've already told you! We don't know!" Shiro shouted fiercely, but he had already walked away.

"Hey Shiro?" Lance called his distinctive voice shaking.

"What is it Lance?" Shiro settled down against the cracked dirt wall exasperated. The sole thing he desired was to get out of this pit, find Pidge, and get back to the castle.

"I don't know if this is the accurate time to inform you, but its about Pidge."

Shiro's head shot up looking directly at Lance, "What about Pidge,"

"I mean it's not that significant. I mean it can wait until we get out of this pit."

"Lance," Shiro replied calmly, "If there's something you know about Pidge, you need to tell me."

"It has nothing to do with the mission, so I think it would be better if we waited-"

Shiro cut Lance off with a shrill cry of annoyance, "Just tell me Lance. It would be better for me to know right now than later!"

Lance hesitated. Carefully looked at the others who merely gave him blank stares in return. He took a deep breath preparing himself for what he was about to bluntly tell Shiro. Something that could alter his mood entirely.

"She -"

"Times up!"

The leader returned, his head was peeking over the rim of the pit. "i'll allow you three precious minutes to promptly tell me where the green paladin is otherwise your going to be merely staying down their longer.

A couple of citizens appeared across from him buckets in hand. As soon as they saw the paladins, they tipped their buckets into the pit emptying the water that was in them. One after one the citizens continuously continued to poor water. It was practically as if they were intentionally trying to drown them.


	19. Rescue

"They do realize that it's going to be taking them forever to fill this up?" Keith asked to no one in particular.

"I think that their just trying to scare us," Shiro replied, "It's going to be a while before they can even form a puddle anyway."

"Shiro they seem to be doing something else." Lance called drawing the attention of his comrades. Lance's feet were completely submerged underneath the mud that was created, and he was slowly sinking deeper.

Shiro stepped forward in attempt to help, only to get stuck himself. The water was bucket after bucket. The water cascaded down landed right in the middle of the group sending wet dirt all over the paladins white armor.

"No one move," Keith said as he began to sink himself.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Lance replied as he began to sink to almost knee deep.

* * *

Pidge slowly rose from the position she had dropped to. The world around her was quiet, not even a breeze was blowing.

Glancing down to her right she found Zayd face down in the dirt, a pool of blood growing beneath him. She couldn't even remember who pulled the trigger.

Reaching out she grabbed her bayard and his blaster. Taking his blaster she tucked it into the belt of her armor. She had warned him and he refused to listen.

Before leaving the clearing completely she glanced back one last time. No one deserved to be killed by their own weapon, but alas this is war, and in war there are casualties.

Pidge continued on through the clearing and down the path. She broke through the forest edge and into the field where the castle was. Breaking into a run she made her way to the castle.

Bursting into the castle she startled Coran and Taj. Taj jumped behind Coran peeking around from behind his legs.

"Pidge! My goodness! Where have you been?" He asked.

"Where's the others?" Pidge replied not bothering to answer his question.

"They went into the city looking for you."

Pidge didn't wait for anything else before taking off towards the city. It wasn't long before she started to pass buildings and she found herself in the middle of the city square. The place was deserted not an Olkari in sight.

Almost immediately she noticed the decimated building. The rubble covering twice the amount of space it took before. Shouts in the distance drew Pidge away from the destroyed building.

"Shiro!" She called out. She ran towards the sound of yelling and what sounded like water being dumped. She disappeared around the back of a building and through a line of trees before seeing a long line of people with buckets in hand. A single person stood on the opposite side watching as each bucket was emptied. He stared down into the pit his arms crossed across his body.

Pidge stood watching for a moment, from the safety of the tree line, when her coms came crackling to response with a distorted response from one of the paladins

"Hello? Shiro is that you?" Pidge whispered yelled.

_...idge...hel...ud..king..._

"What? What's going on?" Pidge could barely understand what was being said. Summoning her bayard she attempted to aimed it at the tree but stepped on a branch instead. She froze. Pidge watched as the leader turned in her direction, frustration evident in his features.

"Come out now!" The leader demanded having heard her, "I'm sure you'd like to save your friends."

* * *

From the pit, Hunk, Shiro, Keith, and Lance watched as the leader disappeared from the edge. he seemed to be talking to someone. That's when they heard Pidge's voice.

"Let them go!"

"No. They need to pay for what they've done." the leader responded. He sounded like he was still next to the pit just not standing directly next to it.

Silence. The paladins glanced at each other concern etched on their faces. Just when they were about to come to the conclusion that Pidge and the leader were having a stare off, screams erupted from the crowd. The paladins could see nothing of what was happening above, but they could hear.

There was a definite sound of a gunshot and then pidge shouting. "Everyone go home, except for Mr. Big-shot here." Several pairs of footsteps could be heard retreating through the bush. Only when they could hear no more did Pidge speak again.

"Don't shoot." The paladins could see the leader again at the edge of the pit arms raised.

"I'm not." Pidge replied. A thud followed her response, "Let's talk about this."

"Okay I'm listening," The paladins watched as the leader lowered his hands.

"I need you to release the paladins."

"No can do. They need to pay for destroying the orphanage."

"They didn't do it." Pidge replied anger lacing her voice.

"What proof do you have?"

"Up the mountain trail just in front of a large pile of brush you will find my proof. Check his pockets and you will find what he used to destroy the building."

"And if you're lying?"

"Why would I lie when my friend's lives are at stake?"

"Fair enough."

The paladins couldn't hear more of the conversation as they moved farther away from the pit. Keith activated his jet pack and attempted to pull himself out.

"Keith stop! That's just going to make things worse!"Shiro called out.

Seconds later the red paladin stopped, sinking slightly deeper than the others. They stood there, eyes watching each other for an idea, when they heard movement next to the pit again. They looked up as a rope was draped over the overhanging branch right above them. Seconds later Pidge's face appeared.

"Pidge!" They called out their faces lighting up at the sight of the younger paladin.

"Ready to get out of there?"

"Heck yeah!" Hunk replied.

"Okay when I say grab onto the rope one at a time and activate your jet pack." The paladins nodded in response.

One by one the paladins did as she instructed and it wasn't long before all four of them were out of the pit. Their suits, however, were covered in mud clear up to their mid thighs.

They didn't have a chance to say anything before Pidge was hurrying them out and towards a separate section of the wood.

"Whoa Pidge slow down what's the rush?" Lance asked.

"Galra are on their way right now and we have to hurry. Oskana said she would try and buy me some time, but that could've been hours ago!" She replied the confidence before leaving her completely and being replaced by slight panic.

"Isn't that the girl from the diplomat meeting?" Keith asked.

"Yes it is!" Pidge replied, "Now we have to hurry!" She stood in front of them face pleading with them.

"Lead the way! We're right behind you." Shiro stated. Even though he had just been pulled out of a mud pit and felt like he could sleep for a day or two, he knew that this was important to Pidge. They also had a responsibility to protect the people on this planet, and nothing was going to stop him from doing that.


	20. You Should Only Tell Secrets To The Dead

"Please. Please. Please still be there." Pidge whispered silently to herself as she hurriedly made her way up the trail, the rest of the paladins behind her. She was going to keep her promise to Oskana in protecting her and her family.

She made her way past the dead body of Zayd. She didn't have to look behind her to know that the others had shock and confusion as to what happened, all over their faces. So much had happened that she wasn't even quite sure herself as to what had gone down.

It wasn't long before they made it back to the part of the trail where Pidge had left Oskana. Here, she slowed down as her eyes moved back and forth across the path. Oskana's footprints could be seen heading in the same direction. Pidge followed them not paying attention to the conversation behind her.

"Was I the only one who saw the body back there?" Hunk whisper-yelled. He had panicked and it took everything that he had to not stop Pidge right then and there.

"Yes Hunk, we all saw it," Keith replied stopping to look at him. That was the last thing that even he expected to see today.

"We don't know what happened," Shiro said cutting off any further conversation about the topic, "So until we find out for sure what happened, no one will talk about it."

The others nodded their heads in response. When they all turned back to the trail they found that Pidge was no longer in sight. Glancing at each other they hurried down the trial, into a clearing.

Knelt down in the sand, back to them was Pidge. She was looking intently at an object in front of her. Sensing their approach she rose to face them a small, metallic grey chip in hand.

"What is that?" Lance asked.

"It's a chip that Oskana used to take off the cuffs she had me in." Pidge replied automatically. She was continuing to look around the clearing for any more clues as to what could've happened.

"Pidge there's nothing else here." Shiro said looking around the clearing. It was a sandy clearing with brush and greenery surrounding the outside edge. It was the perfect spot for a fight to go down and not leave any evidence.

Shiro was pulled from his thoughts by Keith who had nudged him to get his attention. He looked over at Keith only to have his attention diverted to Pidge standing on the clearing edge. She stood for a moment before wading her way through the bushes.

"She would follow her?" Hunk asked. He tentatively took a step forward only for him to stop. No one stepped forward after that. Well, everyone except Shiro. He felt something was off. The way Pidge had been standing at the edge of the clearing, frozen like she couldn't move even if she wanted to. He stepped forward, finding movement at last. When he got to the edge he wasn't expecting Pidge to be standing over a second body.

"Pidge what is going on? This is the second one that we have seen." Shiro called down to her.

"Galra." Pidge whispered. She turned back to the paladins her eyes wide, " The Galra are back!"

* * *

The paladins were standing in the bridge watching as Coran pulled up the scanner. They had raced backed to the castle as soon as Pidge had uttered the sentence that was putting them all on edge. Keith was pacing back and forth with Lance watching him. Hunk was over next to Coran assisting him as needed. Pidge had mentioned something about needing to check-up on a thing or two and was no longer in the room. And Shiro...

Well Shiro is...

Here let me just show you.

Shiro caught Lance's attention by standing behind Keith. Lance noticed this and kinda gave him a questionable look in return. Shiro then jerked his head to outside the room before turning himself and heading out into the hall. A few seconds later Lance joined him hands shoved into his pockets. He knew what was coming. Shiro wanted to finish the conversation from earlier.

"Yes, Shiro?" Lance asked tentatively. He knew that Pidge would kill him if he breathed even a word about her feelings, but I guess that's now a definite possibility. Especially when he mentioned that he needed to tell Shiro something about Pidge.

"Is their something going on with Pidge?" Shiro asked. His eyes were filled with concern, his eyebrows raised upward.

"N-Nothing that's an emergency per say." Lance said his heart beating fast. _Just her feelings for you that she's taking her sweet time to tell you about._ Boy was he in hot water.

"Lance," Shiro said, "If there's something going on with her then you need to tell the team, especially if it's hurting her."

_This is going to hurt her if I say anything._ Lance thought to himself. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, he could only look at the ground in silence. This was making him freak out. There absolutely was something going on but not what Shiro was thinking. How'd he even get stuck in the middle of this anyway?

"Lance?" Shiro asked again, grabbing the teen's attention from his thoughts once more, "Is their something-"

"NO SHIRO FOR THE LAST TIME THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON WITH PIDGE. THE ONLY THING THAT IS GOING ON WITH HER IS HER FEELINGS FOR YOU! THAT IS WHAT IS GOING ON!" Lance screamed at Shiro. He was panting as he turned away from him. Letting out a breath of finally having it off of his chest he looked up.

He was met with a wide eyed Pidge. Her mouth was agape as she stared at him. A bag was slung on her shoulder a hand wrapped around the strap.

Lance watched horrified as the bag slipped from her shoulder to the ground. He looked back up to her her hazel eyes to find them building with tears. She began to slowly shake her head back and forth. A hatred began to from on her face that was a surprise to Lance.

"I can't believed I trusted you!" Pidge shouted her lip trembling.

Lance took a step forward his hands on his chest, "Pidge, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to tell him!"

Pidge shook her head backing up, "Just stay away from me." And with that she took off down the hall. The last thing that Lance saw of her face before she ran off was the fresh tears spilling down her face.

"This is all my fault." he turned to Shiro, "I never should've told you that."

Shiro smiled and nodded. "It's okay." He leaned down to pick up Pidge's bag that she had dropped, "She'll come around eventually, and when she does I'm sure she'll understand.

Lance looked at Shiro, his eyes narrowed. "You're acting really calm for someone who just found out that the person that they liked, likes them back."

Shiro froze. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Lance replied, "You're kinda freaking me out."


	21. If Only

"Quiznack!" Pidge yelled as she dove out of the way. Dirt rained down around her, the blast having sent it flying. Things were not going to plan. Their top priority was to keep the town safe, but it was hard when the lions were unable to get out of their hanger.

The battle itself mostly consisted of grounded sentries, although there was the occasional cruiser seen in the sky. The paladins had managed to make their way halfway to the city where the worst of the battle was. From what they had seen from the castle, there was several fires and multiple buildings had collapsed. Even from where Pidge stood she could hear the screams above the battle she was engaged in.

"Pidge!" Lance called out over the comms. He was about ten yards from her, but she could see that he was coming closer.

"Buzz off," she replied not bothering to look over at him. She was beyond through with him. One of her closest friends betraying her trust. He of all people should know that her trust was one that was hard to earn. Yet, here he was throwing it out the window. She wasn't mad that Shiro knew but the fact that Lance had told him so easily, that's what she didn't like. Things would've been so much better if she hadn't told anyone at all.

"Pidge, Listen to-"

"No Lance. You've made it clear that I can't trust you. So why would I listen to you now?" She shouted cutting him off.

Arms wrapping around her then her being jerked forward, ripped her from her thoughts. She grunted as she was thrown forward, only to gasp as someone landed on top of her. She struggled as she attempted to work her way out of their grasp. It was a little to easy for her to free herself. Turning around she was a taken back at who she saw.

Lance was on the ground, unconscious. His helmet was cracked suggesting he had either hit his head in some way. His chest plate was covered in a large black stain. His bayard was a few feet away, too far away for him to have dropped it. Just past that she noted the smoking robotic sentry. It had been behind her and she hadn't notice, if Lance hadn't stepped in...

"Lance?" She asked. She gently shook his shoulder.

No response.

Across the way several more shots were fired from sentries hidden in and throughout the tree line. Upon instinct Pidge ducked down into the grass, hands over her head. Once the firing ceased she returned to her previous position of trying to wake up Lance.

"Come on,"

"Pidge what's going on?" Shiro called over the comms. Blasts could be heard in the background.

"Has anyone seen Lance? He's not responding to me." Hunk asked, worrying lacing his voice.

"Lance is down," was all Pidge said as she reactivated her bayard. She turned to reengage in the still on going battle. The sooner this battle was over the sooner they could get Lance into a healing pod.

"Let's end this quickly," Keith said. Glancing over Pidge watched as he proceeded to take down three sentries.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Shiro snapped, "We were in the middle of a battle! That is the one time you listen to your teammates, no matter what your feelings towards them were!"

Pidge sat on the couch her arms crossed across her body. Shiro was standing in front of her trying to get his point across. Keith and Hunk had taken Lance to the med bay so it was just them in the room.

Sighing Shiro sat down on the couch next to her. "Look I know that what Lance said was probably something that should've been said by you, but you shouldn't be mad at just him."

"Why? He was the one who betrayed my trust. I went to him in confidence and I thought that since we're close friends I could trust him. Apparently not." she pulled her helmet off her head, "There's only a few people in my life that I place that kind of trust in, and once they lose it they may never get it back." She tossed it beside her watching as it landed against a pillow before rolling into a crack between the cushions.

"Pidge.."

"I mean everything was great, and then Allura died. Then after that..."

"It all went down hill." Shiro replied completing her sentence.

"Yeah, I was perfectly fine where I was in Voltron. I was the tech person I was useful there, but then Allura decided that I would make a could make a great diplomatic leader." She smirked, "My first meeting and half of the building was destroyed."

"That wasn't your fault,"

"This never would've happened if Allura was still here. I'm a Paladin it's my job to protect people and I even failed that." She stood up abruptly. She crossed the room before returning to the couch. She ran her hands through her hair. "Maybe things would've been better if I just stayed on earth."

At that Shiro grabbed her upper arms and spun her around to face him, "Don't you ever say that. You have done so much here both as a Paladin and as a friend. Things may have gone down hill for a bit but that dosen't mean that it won't get better." He gently placed his hand on her cheek, before brushing her hair out of her eyes, "You've done things for this team that have helped us all. I know for a fact that you have brightened everyone's life just by being here on this ship. I know you have for me." He smiled as Pidge met his gaze. Then all at once she had her arms around him her face against his chest. Shiro responded by simply wrapping his arms around her pulling her close.

Keith coughed from the doorway, causing the two to leap apart. "I'd hate to interrupt this sickly sweet moment, but Lance is about ready to leave the pod."

"Uh yeah will be there in a moment," Shiro replied a hand on the back of her neck not looking at anything in particular. Next to them Pidge was a blushing mess her head buried in her hands.

"Don't take too long," Keith said before leaving.

"Shall we?" Shiro asked rising and offering her his hand.


	22. Almost

It was about half an hour after Lance had been released from the pod. Pidge had immediately tackled him in a hug saying she was sorry over and over again. After that Lance had gone to his room to "rest a bit more" as Coran and Shiro had put it. Based on their tones he could tell that he had no choice in the matter. Even if he felt fine, there was no way he was going to get out of it.

A few minutes after he had settled himself in his bed, he found himself to be actually quite tired. Suddenly grateful for Shiro and Coran's strong suggestion he snuggled deeper under the covers. He only managed to close his eyes for a short while when he heard a knock at his door.

He rolled over onto his back groaning as he stretched his arms above his head. He sat up on his forearms looking towards the door with squinted eyes as he gave the consent to enter. The person who entered was none other than Pidge who seconds after leaving the pod had showered him with apologies. He played it off as anyone would saying that it was no big deal.

That's where he'd went wrong.

_Pidge punched him in the shoulder. "Of course it is you idiot. You could've died!"_

_"Hey that's what friends are for aren't they?"_

He had received another punch after that.

"Hey Pidge, what's up?" he asked her pulling the blankets around him as he sat up fully on the bed.

"Can you talk for a minute?" She asked tentatively, a light blush staining her cheeks. Despite what he was seeing he could hear how scared she was in her voice.

"Yeah, of course!" he scooted to make room for her on the bed.

She sat without so much as a look in his direction instead staring across the room at the wall biting her lip. Her hands fiddled with the hem of her shirt, having a sudden need to do something.

Finally she turned to look at him, "I need some advice...It's-It's about Shiro."

* * *

"What do you mean you haven't talked to her about it?" Keith asked. He was currently in the lounge with Shiro, who was having problems of his own.

"Exactly what I said. I haven't talked to her about what Lance told me," He ran his hands through his hair, "I think I should just wait until she comes to me."

"Do anything else, but that," Keith said pointing at him, "that's going to scare her."

"What? Why?"

"Waiting for her to come to you. She's already freaked that you even know, how you respond will have even more of an impact."

"Okay so when did you get so good at giving advice?"

"Don't change the subject," Keith said crossing his arms, "You're going to talk to her about it. Tonight."

"But. . ."

"But what? You have no excuse to not talk to her. So get your ass off of that chair. Get a shower and go find your girl."

That shut Shiro up. Keith was right, the more he remained silent the more likely he was of losing Pidge for good. He had no choice he had to talk to her. He sighed rising from his chair, which in turn brought Keith leaping from his seat.

"Hey where do you think you're going?"

"Like you said," going to get my girl."

* * *

"That's just not right," Lance said, "He just never brought it up?"

Pidge shook her head, "Granted I was talking pretty much the whole time about how you getting hurt was my fault. So how could he," She groaned her hands placed against her forehead as she fell back onto the bed, "this is so difficult," she groaned.

"I would say, just give it time. You never know he may still be processing."

"You think?"

Lance nodded, "now why don't you go get some sleep you don't need to be stressing over this," Lance said ruffling her hair.

Pidge giggled, "Fine. But I'm not going to bed quite yet."

"Suit yourself," Lance said curling up under the covers again.

* * *

"Gosh darn-it," Pidge mumbled as she dropped to her knees. She crawled halfway underneath the table to reach the one piece, out of everything else she could have dropped. The piece was about as big as a grain of rice, which would've been fine had it been colored. This one however was as clear as a glass window.

Pidge continued to search for the piece her hands carefully moving over the smooth floor. She was hardly paying attention to where she was actually looking. That's why she looked so confused when she ran into Shiro's leg. She sat back on her knees looking up at Shiro, who had an amused look on his face.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, his eyes bright with curiosity.

"Oh just a small piece that's for a new project I'm working on. The piece is about the size of a grain of rice, and whoever made them was stupid enough to make it clear." she huffed crossing her arms.

"How about I help you look for it?"

"I mean you don't have to-"

"I want to, and besides there's something I want to talk about you with."

"Oh. O-ok." Pidge turned away from him to look, but mostly to hide her warm face. She gasped softly, her heart pounding in her chest. If she was right then Shiro would want to talk about what Lance had told him. Part of her was grateful, but the other part was her freaking out as she came up with several different outcomes of the conversation.

Once again, she froze as she ran into Shiro...again. He chuckled setting her heart a flame. They were both currently facing each other on hands and knees, just staring. Neither one moved, they couldn't. They were waiting for the other's move, all the while wanting to make a move of their own.

Somehow the gap between them shrunk and they were mere inches from each other. The electricity was electrifying as their lips almost touched.

Without warning Pidge ducked from the stance and picked something up between her fingers, "Ha! Found it!" She turned to her table placing it in the device.

Shiro was frozen his eyes wide. He had come so close to kissing her. That wasn't apart of what he had come here to do. He had come to talk figure things out, but something about her made him forget about all of that.

"So-" Pidge said turning back to face him- "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Shiro rose to his feet not quite facing her, "I-I'll talk about it tomorrow. I just remembered that I-I needed to talk to Keith about something important," with that he was out the door leaving Pidge once again confused in her lab.

_Am I not important?_ she thought to herself as she watched the doors to her lab close behind Shiro.

* * *

_**AN: So this is my first romantic fan-fiction that I have actually written, and I'm not quite sure how I'm doing. So if you would like to give me some feedback on how the actual story has been so far that would help me a lot! Thanks! :)**_


	23. Supernova

_Am I not Important?_

Pidge stood there staring at the door that moments ago had just closed. It was a repeat from before. Shiro leaving before she had a chance to say anything and instead ignoring him. She didn't know what else to do!

Every time she wanted to say something to him about how she felt her stomach started to do flips and her throat was suddenly dry. It's not that she didn't want to tell him it's that she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to say it, but now he knows thanks to Lance. Even if he knows she couldn't help but feel like things could never be the same.

She began to fiddle with her shirt before stopping suddenly. "What am I doing?" She gripped her hair with her hands, "this is just going to keep happening!"

Before she even had a chance to reconsider she was out the door. She ran to the end of the hallway looking left then right.

_He mentioned something about Keith._ Turning left she bolted down the hall. Narrowly avoiding running into Hunk who had Taj in his arms. She ignored his question as she regained her footing and sped off again.

She arrived in front of Keith's door out of breath. She only had to knock once before the door opened. Keith gave her one look and was about to open his mouth when she cut him off.

"Have you seen Shiro?"

"Was he not with you?" He asked raising an eyebrow in question.

"No he was and then he said something about talking to you and then he just left."

"You got to be kidding me. When I find him I'm gonna-"

"Keith! Focus! Do you know where he is?"

He thought for a moment, "usually during this time he goes to the bridge while it's empty."

"Really?"

"Yeah! He turns out the lights and looks out into space. Don't ask me why he does it, he just does." Keith replied a smirk on his face.

Pidge nodded, "Thanks Keith," she said before taking off.

Sighing Keith closed the door not turning around quite yet.

"I can't believe you just left her to come talk to me of all people!" He finally said whipping around.

"She's cute I forgot what I went there for and I panicked! Can you blame me?" Shiro asked his hands raised in defense.

Shaking his head Keith approached, "I've just sent her to the best place in the castle for someone to confess their feelings. Now, this is your last chance before I trap the both of you in a room and make you talk about it."

"Now how would you know that the bridge is the perfect spot for confessing ones love?" Shiro asked raising an eyebrow.

Keith looked away his face turning a bright red. He mumbled something into his hand.

"I'm sorry what was that?"

"I'm may or may not have imagined me doing that exact thing..." he rubbed the back of his neck not quite meeting Shiro's gaze.

Shiro bit his lip trying to keep from chuckling.

"I'm allowed to have an imagination alright!" Keith yelled, "Now get out of here!" He pulled Shiro from his bed and out the door. "Don't screw this up!" was the last thing he said before slamming the door.

The walk to the bridge seemed longer than it really was. Shiro couldn't help but take deep shaking breaths as the doors came into sight.

_It's now or never._

The doors opened and he walked through into a dark room. The windows were more defined in the darkness, the stars just beyond littering the sky. The crystal above was dimmed to a soft blue giving just the right amount of light. Shiro drew his attention back to the windows, the sight was captivating. The sight of a supernova in the distance completed the view by far, however there was one thing that even surpassed that.

Sitting in the center of the room on the edge of what used to be where Allura stood, was Pidge. She sat with her arms stretched out behind her, head tilted to the side as she looked out.

Shiro approached, sitting down next to her he looked to the stars once again. This was truly one of his favorite moments. It truly reminded him of home, and that even if he wasn't stuck light years away, he knew that he would be doing the exact same thing.

"How was your conversation with Keith?" Pidge asked suddenly not moving from her position.

Shiro opened his mouth to respond only to close it once more. He took a deep breath, "That's not why I'm here." He turned to face her, "Pidge there's something that I really need to tell you." he placed his hand on the back of his neck.

"yeah?" Pidge said sitting up. She tucked a strand of her short hair behind her ear.

"I-I-" Shiro was having trouble forming sentences. The way the hazel met the speckled yellow within her eyes were out of this world throwing him of guard. Everything was perfect about this girl sitting before him and he was nothing compared to it. But he had a chance right? I mean he knew she feels the same, unless all the time he spent avoiding her had caused her to change her mind?

He looked down swallowing a big lump in his throat as his hand began to move unconsciously towards hers. He placed his on top, looking up in enough time to see a light blush dust her cheeks.

That's when his body went on autopilot and he was suddenly leaning forward. Their lips connected and it sent pleasurable chills through his body. He felt Pidge tense against his lips for a second before returning it.

When they released each other from the kiss it a took a second for both of them to open their eyes. The kiss felt right like it was meant to be. Like they were always meant to be together and they were just now realizing it.

Shiro had placed his hand against her cheek while they were kissing and he left it there, running his thumb against her soft lips, his gaze flicking from her lips to her wide eyes, "I'm sorry," he said hoarsely, "I shouldn't have done that."

Pidge began to shake her head and for a second he was worried that he had messed up. Then all of a sudden she was kissing him again.

She pulled away her eyes shinning with tears, "Don't be."

* * *

**AN: Not the greatest at writing kiss scenes but hey, you've got to start somewhere am I right? ;)**


	24. Mother and Son

_"Two o'clock fighters inbound!"_

_"Pidge! Keith! Hurry up and get out of there!"_

_"On our way!"_

_"We're out. We managed to save two captives."_

_"Ion canon is powering up!"_

_"Look out!"_

_"Pidge move!"_

_"In a sec!"_

_"No now!"_

_"I said in a sec!"_

_"Pidge! Look out!"_

* * *

Pidge threw open the doors from her lions chamber her helmet already removed from her head. She grit her teeth as she walked up the the black paladin. He was coming to meet her the same look on his face.

"What the Hell!" They both shouted at the same time.

"Why would you put yourself on the line like that?" Shiro asked. He threw his hands up exasperated, "You could've died!"

"I had it handled!" Pidge yelled back. "I knew what I was doing!"

"Not moving from in front of an Ion canon when it could fire at any moment is completely idiotic!"

"Would you have rather have it fired aimlessly and accidentally hit someone else?" Pidge fired back

"Of course not!" He sighed running his hands through his hair, "but that doesn't make it okay for you to put yourself in the way either."

"I've done it a millions of times before," Pidge replied, "it's not like it's our first time in battle."

Shiro opened his mouth ready with a comeback.

"Although I see where your coming from. And it's understandable, but if we're going to work then we can't constantly be risking our lives for each other. It's going to get both of us killed."

Shiro nodded. "I agree, however, don't be putting yourself in danger when it doesn't call for it. Alright?"

"Alright." Pidge replied a small smile creeping onto her face.

* * *

"Thank you," the older Olkari mumbled as she accepted some water from Coran.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Galra?" Keith asked. He had his arms crossed over his chest. "Did you learn anything at all?"

The Olkari took her time to respond. "I'm sorry no. We hardly had any contact with the Galra."

She held the cup out to her companion. He took it drinking from it. Neither of them had said much only answering questions when asked. Both of them looked malnourished. Pidge wasn't quite sure how they managed to survive.

Hunk entered the room a few minutes later carrying a couple bowls filled with food goo. He handed one to each and they readily accepted.

As they began to eat Shiro took over asking questions. "Can I ask your names?"

"My names Clover." The one with blue markings across her cheeks said this before gesturing to her companion, "and this is my son Liam."

Liam had orange markings instead of the vibrant blue that his mother had. He appeared to be around Shiro's age As for his height he was shorter then him by a few inches, his mother, on the other hand, was closer to Keith in height.

Clover set the bowl down having finished her food goo. "It's been years since I've been home." She turned to her son, "are you ready to go home?"

"Please stay at least a few more days so we can make sure your truly okay." Coran piped up, "it's no bother and we have plenty of extra rooms!"

Clover and Liam exchanged a glance. "Oh I guess we could," Clover replied.

The two followed Coran out. Leaving the Paladins in the med bay.

"Pidge-"

"I know!" She snapped. She looked back to the close door her heart breaking. Mother and son. Only half of a family.

"We've got to tell them soon." Keith said.

"Are we sure it's them?" Hunk asked as he reached for the empty bowls.

"The resemblance was too close. It's them alright." Shiro responded.

"The thing is, how do you tell someone that their daughter they haven't seen for years was brutally murdered?"

Lance's question rang in their ears. He was right how were they going to tell them?

* * *

**AN: Shorter than usual I know. Enjoy! :)**


	25. Moments Like These

"I think you've done enough here!" The voice echoed throughout the room.

The Olkari called Jackson roared towards the Paladins. He gripped the edge of the table, his knuckles white. He glared at the Paladins with a hatred so pure that it set all of them on edge.

"There has been more bloodshed on just this planet then in the entire universe!" he pulled back from the edge of table only to collapse back in his chair, "Half of the coalition was destroyed in the massacre, an orphanage was demolished, and riots have broken out in the streets!" he sighed running a hand over his face, "Yet you are no where closer to finding a solution to stop it all! Isn't that your job!"

"Jackson if you would just let us explain we could work together to come to a solution!" Pidge finally spoke up having found a spot to cut in.

"No I don't want to hear anything from any of you!" Jackson screamed, "You're explanation will consist of you blaming one of my people for the damage and lives lost! It's happened on other planets and that's what's going to happen here! My people are innocent!"

"But-"

"Am I wrong?!" He spoke directly to Pidge. He rose from the chair leaning over the table once again to look at the green Paladin. He rose a hand cutting off the paladin from speaking, "Am. I. Wrong?"

Pidge glared at him,"Yes. Yes, you are!" she replied.

"Get out of my sight! Get out all of you before I have you escorted out!" he screamed.

The paladins left without further argument. They had tried to find support in the capital, but clearly they were going to have to find it somewhere else.

"I want you off my planet in two days!" Jackson screamed as the doors slammed shut at their heels.

"Well wasn't he pleasant to talk to!" Lance chirped glancing back at the door with an annoyed look.

"He wasn't to keen on the possibility of his people working with the Galra. Clearly he isn't in with his people as he likes to think." Shiro spoke up, "And now we have two days before he kicks us off the planet."

"I can't believe that Ryner left this guy in charge," Hunk said as they began to walk back towards the Castle of Lions.

"Well unless Ryner returns early from helping gather more members of the Coalition then we have no choice," Pidge said.

She wasn't really focused on what had just happened in the room. She was focused on the Castle in front of them, mainly on two occupants inside who were clueless to news that was still fresh on everyone's mind.

* * *

Pidge found Clover in the lounge sitting on the couch with a book in hand. She glanced up for a moment upon hearing the doors open.

"Well hello Pidge." Clover spoke closing the book and setting it beside her.

"Hi Clover, Do you have a moment?" Pidge asked, "There's something that I need to tell you."

"Sure! Anything you need Pidge!"

"It's about your Daughter Oskana." Pidge continued setting herself on the couch next to Clover. Clover looked at her as if she was encouraging her to continue.

For the next five minutes Pidge proceeded to explain how she came to know Oskana and how she had died stalling for Pidge so she could rescue the other Paladins from a angry mob.

"She should've known better." Clover said after Pidge finished. She settled back into the couch, reopening her book.

"I'm sorry?" Pidge asked raising an eyebrow. She would've expected more of a reaction from a mother finding out their daughter was murdered.

"She had the chance to fight for her survival and instead she decided to be stupid and get herself killed."

"She sacrificed her life helping us!"

"She would've lived a long and happy life had she just handed you over to the Galra. Instead, she decided to listen to how you could relate." Clover closed the book again draping her arm across her lap leaning forward slightly. "She should've gagged you that way she would still be alive and you...well you would've been somewhat alive."

Pidge left the room not quite sure what to think of Clover. She had completely surprised Pidge in her response. Pidge hardly noticed that someone had approached her until they cleared their throat.

"Shiro, I think something is up with Clover."

"How so?"

"She reacted as if she didn't care and she blamed us for her death." Pidge stopped turning to face him, "It just dosen't settle right with me."

"Well everyone grieves in their own way. I mean you broke into Iverson's office when you heard the Kerberos mission failed."

"That was different. I knew they were still alive." Pidge replied glaring as she crossed her arms.

"But if you didn't. Would you have still broken into Iverson's office?"

"Yes?" Pidge sighed, "I don't know. Maybe?" She drug her hands over her face and underneath her glasses rubbing her eyes. "Maybe you're right." she removed her hands from her face

"You've had a long day today. Why don't you go get some rest?"

"Ha fat chance. I'm going to the kitchen." Pidge replied walking off a smirk on her face.

She didn't get very far before Shiro came up behind her and grabbed her waist, flipping her over onto her stomach on his shoulder.

"Hey! Let me go!" She called out giggling as she wriggled in his grip.

"Hold...Hold Still!" Shiro replied chuckling. He carefully set her down in front of him. Before he had a chance to straighten back up Pidge grabbed his shirt pulling him back towards her. She pecked his lips smirking as she let go of his shirt.

"Catch me if you can." she said before taking off down towards the kitchen.

Shiro paused for a moment shaking his head as he gave her a head start. He smiled, it was moments like these that he lived for.


	26. Two-Sided

"The green paladin's room is right here," Liam whispered. His hand was hovering above the button ready to push it.

"Change of plans," Clove responded stopping in front of the black paladin's room. "This one is way more valuable."

"They said to grab anyone. They're worth nothing to the Galra."

Clover turned to her son shaking her head, "You don't understand. The Galra would love to have their hands on the champion. Haggar especially."

"So we bring him in?"

"Yes. Haggar will grant us more freedom if we do."

Liam's hand hovered over the button next to Pidge's room a second longer than with what was necessary. He pulled it away approaching his mother.

His mother placed a hand on her son's back, "Let's make this quick."

* * *

The finished bowl of cookie dough was the first thing Pidge saw when she woke up. She had of course beaten Shiro to the kitchen, and had already started looking for something to make. Shiro had appeared a few minutes later a smile lighting up his features. Soon after they had settled on making cookie dough. Pidge had ended up covered in more flour than the recipe itself called for.

After getting herself cleaned up Shiro and her had sat on her bed, eating the cookie dough and talking. No sex, no making out. Just talking. The later it got the deeper the conversation got, which in turn led them to being more honest with each other.

Pidge smiled. Last night was one of the best moments of her time in space so far. Sliding from the bed she picked up the bowl and carried it with her to the kitchen.

Hunk and Lance were chatting at the counter when she walked in. Upon noticing her they quickly quieted, smirks growing.

"What?" She asked placing the bowl on the counter with dull thud.

"Sooo, How was last night?" Lance asked wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Pidge groaned rolling her eyes, "Don't you have something better to do?"

"Other than talk about your love life? No."

"Aw come on Lance she dosen't have to tell us if she dosen't want to." Hunk said turning back to whatever he was working on.

"You're right, but I'm only human and I'm curious about the juicy details." Lance replied lightheartedly.

Pidge, who had been taking a drink at the time, found herself spitting the sweet liquid out. Her body racked with coughs as she fought to regain control. She dropped the cup on the counter the remaining liquid spilling out.

"You're kidding right?" She asked hoarsely. She looked at Lance, her eyes watering from her coughing.

"What? Was that not what happened?" Lance asked.

"NO!" Pidge practically screamed the words. "Sex is not a requirement for a healthy relationship."

Hunk stepped between them, "Okay. It's a misunderstanding, let's just forget about it."

The two nodded in agreement. The room fell into a silence, that was uncomfortable for all three. Pidge began to clean up her drink while Lance messed around with a sheet of paper. Hunk glanced between the two before turning back to his task.

"Have any of you seen Shiro?" Pidge asked finally.

The yellow and blue paladins shook their heads. Pidge then slid from her seat and exited the room. She made her way from the kitchen until she found herself in the corridor with the Paladin's rooms.

Approaching Shiro's door she rapped her knuckles against it. She drew no response. She knocked once more. One again she drew no response.

"Shiro I'm coming in." She called out. Opening the door she found his room a complete wreck. The sheets and pillows were in a pile on the floor. His paladin armor were thrown across the room into a corner. There was a single chair that had been splintered into several smaller pieces.

A sickening feeling settled in her stomach. She glanced around one last time before bolting from the room and down the hall. Rounding a corner she found herself crashing into Keith. With quick reflexes Keith grabbed her upper arms steadying them both.

"You okay?" He asked letting her go.

"Have you seen Shiro?" She asked completely ignoring his question.

He shook his head, "Is there something wrong?"

"His room is completely destroyed. It feels like something is off."

"Are you sure its not just one of his episodes?"

"No this feels different," Pidge paused a sudden idea coming to her, "Have you seen Clover and Liam?"

"Yeah, I just saw them in the lounge," Keith replied.

"Define 'just'."

"A couple hours ago. I saw them on my way to training." Keith had just finished his sentence when Pidge took off dragging him behind her.

They both burst into the kitchen startling both Lance and Hunk. Lance slipped off his stool but managed to regain his balance. Hunk, on the other hand, dropped the dish he had been carrying. It shattered into a million pieces.

Lance saw the look on Pidge's face and immediately could tell something was off. "What's going on?"

"Shiro's been taking by Clover and Liam." Pidge blurted out.

"We don't know that," Keith replied.

"Well then where are they?" Pidge fired back.

"We're right here." Clover spoke up from the entrance to the kitchen. Liam was standing behind her with a neutral look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

Pidge glared at them, she took a step forward. Keith placed his arm in front of her, "Have you seen Shiro?"

Clover looked back to her son, who shook his head. "No we haven't." She replied calmly shaking her head.

"Well he's not on the castle." Pidge growled.

Keith glanced back at her warning her to stay quiet. "I'm sure we'll find him." Keith replied giving the two a smile. Keith then took Pidge's hand and led her out of the room.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"If you're insistent about Clover and Liam having taken Shiro were going to go look at the security footage."

"I know it's them there's nothing to prove." Pidge protested.

Keith stopped and turned back, ''What proof do you have?"

Pidge looked down, "It's just a feeling. Something felt off about them when they first came."

"Well you can't do much with that," Keith retorted. He was already on edge with the possibility of his brother missing. If that was true then he would have no problem with placing Clover and Liam in a cell. Until then he would have to look for proof that it was even true.


	27. We're All Dead Men

Pidge had been right. Clove and Liam had been responsible for Shiro's disappearance. As soon as they had opened the door on the footage, Pidge had lept from the chair. If Keith had not had caught her wrist when he did she would've been out the door.

"We have to think rationally about this." Keith said, pulling her back to her seat.

Pidge nodded, "So while you think of a strategy I'm going to lock them in a cell, so they don't have a chance to escape."

"We can't let them know were on to them," Keith fired back, his voice just barely above a whisper, however the intensity in his voice was enough to return Pidge to her seat.

"Alright."

Keith released her wrist turning back to the monitors flipping through each camera until he found the two traitors. They were in the black lions hanger. They were so close together that it almost looked there was only one person there. Liam gestured to the black lion, his hand then dropping to his side. Clove reached forward grabbing her son's collar. By the time she released him he was nodding his head. Clove then reached into her pocket and pulled out medium length cylinder object about the thickness of Pidge's arm.

"Pidge, we need to move, now!" He practically yelled pushing his chair back and dragging her out the door with him. "Go alert the others tell them we need to get out of the Castle," he released her hand, locking his course onto the black lion's hanger.

Moments later he burst through the door. Startling both Liam and Clove. Clove released her son's shirt once again turning to face him.

"Why hell-"

Keith cut Clove off, "Dismantle them."

"I'm sorry?" Clove replied sickly sweet.

"The bombs. Where. Are. They?" Keith growled.

Clove smiled and began to shake her head. She looked up as if to roll her eyes but stopped halfway up. Her smile faded and Keith could only guess that she had spotted the security camera above the door.

"It's too late now." Clove said, "If you move them now they'll blow up anyway."

Keith pulled out his bayard, activating it. He took a step forward his eyes focused on Clove. Liam he could take out easily but Clove seemed like she had been trained.

"uh uh uh," Clove teased shaking her finger at him, "I wouldn't do that either." She then proceeded to draw out her hand from her pocket revealing a thin black cylinder with a red button on top.

A dead man's switch.

"What do you want?" Keith asked, deactivating his bayard.

"I don't want anything." Clove said gesturing to herself, "The Galra, on the other hand, want Voltron destroyed."

"Then why did you take Shiro?"

"The Champion," Clove corrected, "belongs with the Galra. He was never to be released in the first place and those who aided in his escape have paid dearly for it."

"What about Oskana? The Galra killed your own daughter and yet you still side with them."

Clove paused for a moment, as if she was actually listening. Then any evidence that she actually was vanished from her face, replaced by a hardened glare. "Oskana made her choice. She knew what she had to do and yet she allowed her feelings to get in the way." She paused, glancing over to Liam, "Come to think of it, Pidge was the one to change Oskana's mind."

* * *

Pidge was standing at the edge of the clearing, just short of being in the forest. The wind whipped through her hair as she stared back at the castle of lions. She had seen the cylinder, the one of many that could be spread throughout the castle armed and ready for use.

"Pidge, I thought you said Keith was coming!" Hunk yelled above the wind. It had suddenly picked up making it extremely louder as the sun disappeared behind ashen clouds.

"I thought he was too!" Pidge replied. She glanced to Taj being held in Hunk's arms. His eyes were wide with fear as he stared directly into her eyes. So young and yet he had already experienced more then he should have to.

"One of us should go back for him," Lance commented stepping forward, "He could be in trouble."

"He told me to get everyone out." Pidge replied. Even as she spoke the words she knew that he had said nothing about not coming back for him. "Lance, come with me. The rest of you stay put."

* * *

The rain began fall in sharp pricks just as they reached the door. Lance opened it and pulled her inside. They both paused for just a moment their labored breathing filling the eerily empty entrance way. The pings of rain on the the castle echoed making it seem a lot louder than it was.

"At least we have some cover," Pidge mumbled stepping forward.

"You said they were in the black lions hanger, right?" Lance asked, falling in step behind her.

"That's right." She replied.

"Of all places they chose to pick they chose the black lions hanger."

"It's because they have it out for Shiro." She bit back, "They always will. No matter what we do we will always have to watch out for Shiro." She frowned, "When I get my hands on them-"

"Pidge. Pidge. Pidge," Lance said her name over and over again stepping in front of her. Pidge stopped an annoyed look coming across her face although she didn't say anything more. "Pidge, promise me that when it comes time to deal with Clove and Liam, that you will not try anything. Let Keith and I handle it."

"They took him." She glared at Lance with every fiber of hatred she felt towards Clove and Liam. "Just when I got him, they took him from me, and left me with nothing." She dropped her head, closing her eyes as if to try and keep the tears from falling, however when she looked up there was fresh tracks of tears down her face. "I-I have no idea if he's still alive."

She gripped her right hand, taking her left thumb and pressing it into the center of her palm. "I-I never even got the chance to tell him how much I-" What was this feeling that she so desperately wanted to describe? Was it love? She wasn't sure. But this ach in her chest was telling her something. The longer he was gone the more painful it felt, and right now it felt like she was suffocating.

"Hey," Lance said, his voice soft. He pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly. "It's okay. You don't have to explain. I totally get it."

After a moment Lance released her, still holding onto her upper arms. "Why don't you go watch the security footage, and let Keith and I deal with the actual fighting. You're not mentally prepared for a fight if it comes down to it."

Pidge nodded not finding the motivation to fight back. "Alright."

They began to walk their separate ways when they heard a distinct beep. They both whipped around to face the other eyes wide. Both had heard the exact same sound several times before, on missions to thwart the Galra's plans. It became easy to pick up on especially when you weren't supposed to hear the beep.

Keith, Lance and Pidge were in the castle and it was set to blow at any moment. One thought ran through both their minds as they took off towards the black lions hanger.

_Get Keith and get out otherwise we're all dead._


End file.
